It was inevitable. Until just moments ago, Kwon Jae-jin had been overwhelmed.
It felt as if countless meteors were crashing down on him.
Mutations, the ranking test, the first-ever S-class Guide, the enhancement of abilities, the Creature Wave, Supreme Commander Choi Yul, his forgotten family, the cosmic dreams, the first timeline’s Seo Eui-woo… Each one was a massive meteor striking him relentlessly.
That was why he had been impatient.
With the impending threat of the Creature Wave looming so close, he had been consumed by the urgency to somehow reform the existing system. His forgotten family weighed on his mind, and with the temporary ceasefire in place, he wanted to improve the situation as quickly as possible.
The idea of turning the tide through guiding, by enhancing Espers’ abilities, had narrowed his vision.
But what truly mattered were the two of them.
Seo Eui-woo and Kwon Jae-jin—the life they were meant to share…
“Don’t tell me it’s okay.”
Seo Eui-woo blurted out, his voice thick with emotion.
“Jae-jin, you’re hurt. You’re torn inside, and you’re bleeding… I hurt you.”
“I’m telling you, it doesn’t hurt—”
“Enough. You can’t stand being in pain. Be honest. It’s my fault. I’m the one who did this to you.”
“…Sigh, then let’s just say we were both at fault. I caused it, and you finished it.”
Kwon Jae-jin had prioritized change over Seo Eui-woo, and Seo Eui-woo had prioritized his emotions over Kwon Jae-jin.
Because of that, Kwon Jae-jin had hurt Seo Eui-woo, and Seo Eui-woo had hurt Kwon Jae-jin.
They had both thrown each other into pain. Equally.
“You’re right. It was my fault.”
Seo Eui-woo muttered coldly to himself.
“Earlier… I could have done something even worse…”
If Kwon Jae-jin had insisted on continuing the guiding—if he had refused to stop—then by now, perhaps…
Seo Eui-woo was still trapped in his own contradictions.
Silence swallowed him once more. A cold, heavy stillness lingered in the air.
Sensing the hint of unrest, Kwon Jae-jin stopped Seo Eui-woo.
“…Enough. That’s enough now. Let’s stop blaming ourselves.”
This wasn’t going to work.
Something felt off. Like the grinding of misaligned gears, the realization of a misplaced puzzle piece, or the sight of a frayed knot.
An undeniable unease settled over him.
To be honest, both Seo Eui-woo and Kwon Jae-jin were at their limits.
Emotionally unstable, exposed with glaring vulnerabilities, they had no choice but to hit the brakes. If they kept pushing forward recklessly, only misunderstandings would pile up, and their relationship would warp beyond recognition.
In the end, they would just crash and burn together.
So for now, they needed to set aside the raging storm and focus solely on each other.
Like before. Like in their ordinary days.
“We need to take it slow. Both of us.”
Forget the complicated mess, just… go back to how things were.
Back to square one.
“So, what I mean is, Eui-woo, uh…”
Kwon Jae-jin hesitated, searching for the right words.
Honestly, he had no idea what to say in times like these. There wasn’t a clear solution or some go-to method. He wasn’t particularly articulate. He wasn’t experienced.
How the hell do you make up with a younger lover…?
What… what do people do?
How do others handle this?
“Hm.”
…Chest.
Want to touch my chest?
No, he’s already had his fill of that…
“Eyes…”
Kwon Jae-jin muttered uncertainly.
“Do you… want to lick my eyeball…?”
Seo Eui-woo was silent.
Seeing the complete lack of reaction, Kwon Jae-jin immediately thought, Shit, that wasn’t it.
“Or, uh.”
What was it again? Something Seo Eui-woo had been nagging him about wanting to do.
“You can… cut my toenails.”
“…….”
“You can call me ‘baby.’ Just for today.”
“…….”
“What, none of these sound good to you? You don’t like them…?”
Seo Eui-woo remained silent.
Not a single twitch in his facial muscles. His vacant eyes stayed wide open, staring at Kwon Jae-jin like a living statue, completely unresponsive.
Then, gradually, like autumn leaves turning color, his face started to flush.
His elegant eyes, his cheeks, and even the tips of his ears all turned pink. His lips parted slightly.
“…What?”
***
Later, Kwon Jae-jin found himself being bathed in a dark, unlit bathroom while his eyeball got sucked.
Seo Eui-woo was fucking insatiable. Shampoo once—lick his eyeball. Conditioner once—lick his eyeball. Scrub his entire body down with body wash—lick, and lick, and lick again.
They tangled together in the pitch-black bathroom, where they couldn’t see a damn thing, and somehow, Seo Eui-woo seemed to like it even more because of that.
And then, on top of everything else, Seo Eui-woo insisted he had to trim Kwon Jae-jin’s toenails, so he paid extra attention to washing his feet.
Switching back and forth between both feet, lathering them up, rinsing them off—his hands were all over him. He rubbed his soles, worked between his toes, kneading and massaging until it tickled like hell.
At this point, Jae-jin wasn’t even sure if there were any toenails left to cut. They probably got scrubbed away along with the soap.
“Seo Eui-woo… stop it already.”
“Hm? Mhm.”
“Don’t just say ‘mhm.’ I said stop.”
“Mhm….”
“You’re wasting water. The bill’s gonna be ridiculous.”
“Alright, alright. Don’t be fussy, my baby.”
“You little—”
“Fussy baby Jae-jin.”
“…Ha.”
“Soft baby.”
“…….”
“Sweetheart baby.”
Fucking hell… this bastard.
“Sweetheart baby? What even—no, don’t answer. I don’t want to know.”
“Oh? Then, uninterested baby.”
This… fucking…
Kwon Jae-jin muttered a quiet fuck under his breath. Seo Eui-woo must have heard, because he laughed.
“Fuck baby? Haha, adorable… Jae-jin, you’re seriously too cute. Why are you this cute?”
Finally reaching his limit, Kwon Jae-jin snatched the showerhead out of Seo Eui-woo’s hands.
They were clean enough. At this point, Seo Eui-woo could trim his toenails or fucking eat them for all he cared. His feet were probably the cleanest ones on Earth right now.
Guided by touch in the darkness, Kwon Jae-jin rinsed off the lingering soap suds from his feet, then washed his eyes as well—considering how much licking they’d endured, they felt dry as hell. He shut off the shower and started to rise from the tub, but Seo Eui-woo, laughing even louder now, wrapped around him from behind.
His soft laughter echoed through the bathroom, blending into the darkness.
That familiar sound, the arms curling around his waist—it was all so deeply ingrained in him that, for a moment, he could almost see Seo Eui-woo’s expression through the pitch black.
It was probably that same expression Kwon Jae-jin knew all too well.
Just like always. Just like their everyday life.
“Careful, Jae-jin. You can’t see a thing. What if you slip in a rush?”
Seo Eui-woo used that as a perfect excuse to scoop him up and carry him out.
He dried him off, applied lotion, dressed him in a robe, and wrapped a towel around his wet hair. Then, finally, a pair of nail clippers appeared in Seo Eui-woo’s hand.
There was no way he could trim his nails in complete darkness, so they moved locations.
The stair landing.
Bathed in the sunlight streaming through the window, Seo Eui-woo sat on the sill, carefully trimming Kwon Jae-jin’s nails one by one.
Cold winter air leaked through the broken walls, carrying the sound of the wind. The steady click of the nail clippers created a strange duet with it.
It was surreal—sitting here like this in a house that was little more than a ruin.
The world outside was a battlefield, yet somehow, just the two of them existed in this peaceful bubble.
Seo Eui-woo held Kwon Jae-jin’s foot in his lap, steady and gentle, shaping each nail with care. Square, but with rounded edges. Trimming precisely, avoiding even the slightest bit of skin—it was a task that required full concentration, and Seo Eui-woo enjoyed it.
For him, the act of focusing on Kwon Jae-jin itself was a pleasure.
“…Seo Eui-woo, why do you even like doing this?”
“What do you mean, this? It’s you, Jae-jin.”
Seo Eui-woo smoothed a thumb over a neatly trimmed toenail.
“It’s the same reason cooking is fun. I like that I can leave my mark on you.”
“Leave your mark?”
“The way I shape them—that’s how they stay on your body. My mark is on all ten fingers and ten toes. That’s twenty places on Kwon Jae-jin’s body, twenty-four hours a day.”
“But… they grow back. I don’t get it.”
“If they grow back, that’s even better. It means I get to trim them again. Sustainable, isn’t it?”
“…I understand even less now.”
Even after hearing the reasoning, it was hard to relate. Was this… good?
If Seo Eui-woo liked it, then maybe it was good in some way—but still, Kwon Jae-jin didn’t get it. Kissing was much better.
His toes twitched slightly from the ticklish sensation, and he absentmindedly turned his gaze toward the garden outside the window.
The wind was cold, but the sunlight was bright.
Seo Eui-woo was childish, dog-like, and adorable.
Ha…
Jae-jin slowly lowered his eyelids.
If only their day could end like this—idly chatting, spending time on trivial things. That would have been nice.
By now, the report should have reached the higher-ups.
The results of Kwon Jae-jin’s ranking test, his willingness to guide, and the fact that Seo Eui-woo had disappeared with him via coordinate shift.
Everything would have been reported without exception.
<Not mucous membrane contact—just skin contact. If it’s something as simple as holding hands briefly, I might consider guiding.>
The thing weighing on him most was that statement—his own words, spoken directly.
How the Center would interpret them, what kind of response they would send—it was impossible to predict.
Just as he was sinking into thought, a notification chime echoed.
A monotonous, repetitive alert. A sound he hadn’t heard in a long time, breaking the brief peace between them.
Jae-jin’s head snapped up, and his eyes immediately met Seo Eui-woo’s clear gray gaze.
It was an emergency summons.
