4:44 a.m.
After checking the time, Kang Sihyeon covered his phone again and stepped out of bed, his heart pounding as if he had just ridden a roller coaster. He walked over to the sofa, sank into it, and stretched out his legs. With every step, the scenes from his dream replayed vividly. They had been so shocking that he couldn’t forget a single detail.
Shiver—
Just recalling it made goosebumps rise, and his pale hand brushed over his arm. Even thinking about it again, it was absurd.
Since he had gone to sleep early in the evening, he didn’t feel sleepy even after waking up at dawn. Having slept for over ten hours, he wondered if he should just stay up until morning, his eyes wide open—when suddenly, he heard the faint sound of someone groaning.
At the small, strained noise, Sihyeon lifted himself up. The fragmented groans—“ugh…,” “mm…”—were too faint to tell whose voice it was.
Since he was already awake, curiosity led him toward the source of the sound—but his steps stopped somewhere unexpected. He had assumed it would be Haru, but the place he stopped wasn’t near his own bed—it was the opposite side.
“Hyung….”
Hamin came into view, calling out to someone with his brows tightly furrowed. As if caught in a nightmare, the boy tossed and turned, letting out pained groans, cold sweat running down his face.
“……”
Sihyeon silently watched the scene, a faint ripple passing through his eyes. Clicking his tongue, he lowered himself to sit down. The sight of Hamin struggling in a nightmare reminded him of someone from his memories.
Turning his body, Sihyeon pulled a few tissues from the box on the table and reached toward Hamin’s forehead—only to hesitate.
What was the point of feeling sympathy for someone he found so unpleasant?
His reason whispered that, but his heart kept leaning toward pity. Hamin’s pained expression reminded him too much of someone, and he couldn’t just turn away coldly. After a moment of hesitation, Sihyeon let out a sigh. He had already taken the tissues—there was no point hesitating now.
Even after wiping the sweat from his forehead, Hamin’s expression didn’t ease. Watching him quietly with lowered lashes, Sihyeon became newly aware of how silent the room was. In the stillness, the soft sound of breathing and the ticking of a clock echoed faintly. With everything so quiet, his eyes began to grow heavy.
After some time passed, the groaning subsided. Opening his eyes, Sihyeon saw that the crease in Hamin’s brow had smoothed out, and he got to his feet. Tossing the used tissues into the trash, he stretched his stiff back—crack, crack—his joints protested audibly. Just sitting on the bare floor for a short while had made his whole body ache.
Who was pitying whom, really?
Muttering as if lamenting, Sihyeon returned to his bed and checked the time. It was nearly 6 a.m. Passing the time by installing a mobile game on his phone, he watched as the dark sky gradually brightened with the rising sun.
By the time it neared 7, he had already washed up early. As he came out, the others—who had been sprawled around like zombies—began waking up one by one. The only one still completely motionless, deep in sleep, was Hamin.
Grinning, Haeun—who had woken up first—noticed Hamin still lost in dreamland and wore a scheming smile. Taking a step back, he suddenly threw his entire body forward onto him.
“Ghk!”
173 centimeters crashed onto 183. Assaulted out of nowhere, Hamin was forced awake and sat up abruptly.
“Kyaa, Hamin, good morning!”
“You crazy bastard….”
His voice, still rough from just waking up, came out low and menacing, pressing down on Haeun. But Haeun only beamed as if immune, casually pulling away the blanket Hamin was trying to drag back up.
“Let’s go eat!”
“It’s 7:20, you lunatic!”
“Breakfast starts at 7:25. If we’re late, we’ll have to wait! Hurry up, hurry!”
Haeun shook him insistently. Every time Hamin tried to go back to sleep, Haeun kept waking him up—until Hamin was the one to surrender.
“Did a ghost who died from starvation latch onto you or something….”
His voice carried beyond mere dissatisfaction—it sounded almost disgusted. Despite how much he had eaten the night before, it seemed he was still at the age where sleep mattered more than food.
Getting out of bed, Hamin ran a hand through his messy hair. Sihyeon had assumed that a male lead from an internet novel would still look perfect upon waking—but the just-awoken Hamin looked entirely human.
After shoving Hamin into the bathroom, Haeun turned toward Sihyeon. For some reason, it felt like the attention that had been on Hamin was now shifting to him. Just as Sihyeon tried to lie back down on the bed to escape—
Grab.
Haeun’s hand caught his wrist, stopping him.
“……?”
“Let’s go eat!”
“I’m good.”
Skipping breakfast was a long-standing habit. He tried to pull his arm away with clear annoyance, but Haeun’s grip didn’t budge. Surprised by the unexpected strength, Sihyeon looked at him. Their eyes met, and Haeun’s golden eyes curved playfully.
“You skipped dinner yesterday too. If you don’t eat, Haru hyung’s going to worry a lot. Right?”
At Sihyeon’s frown, Haeun redirected his persuasion to someone else. Caught off guard, Haru hesitated before nodding.
“…Yeah.”
With that agreement, Haeun smiled, having secured an ally. At that moment, Sihyeon clearly realized who the most troublesome member of the Four Heavenly Kings was.
“Don’t use Haru hyung like that.”
Knowing Sihyeon was weak to Haru and exploiting that gap, Haeun earned a shove. With a sigh, Sihyeon got up from the bed. In the end, he was dragged along with Hamin, unable to resist.
As they walked to the cafeteria, Sihyeon made no effort to hide his discomfort. Noticing, Haeun tried to lift his mood by bringing up something amusing. The sacrifice was Hamin.
When Sihyeon learned that what Hamin had said during the class test—“interesting”—was just the typical line of an arrogant teenager, he shot a sympathetic glance at him. Embarrassed by his past behavior, Hamin instead took it out on Haeun, pressing down on his head.
Leaving the bickering pair behind, Sihyeon entered the cafeteria first, where Yoo Seowoo and Baek Geonwoo stood near the entrance. At this point, the development was predictable.
“Good morning.”
As soon as they met, Seowoo greeted him with a gentle smile. Even in the morning, he was still strikingly handsome. The same went for Geonwoo beside him.
Momentarily distracted by Geonwoo’s face—worthy of being called a national treasure—Sihyeon heard Seowoo call his name.
“Sihyeon.”
Turning his attention, Sihyeon looked at him.
“Did you sleep well?”
“…Well enough.”
The overly familiar tone made him consider avoiding the conversation, but at this point, what would be the point? The more he avoided them, the more they pushed, so it was better to just respond casually.
He was going to get dragged into things again today anyway.
If he insisted on eating only with Haru and held back, they would definitely wait without eating until he arrived. And if he went in first and started eating, they would calmly approach and sit beside him. Even if he chose a two-person table, they would bring over another table just to sit with him.
Having already figured out the behavioral patterns of the Four Heavenly Kings, Sihyeon frowned, wondering how things had ended up like this. He glanced at Hamin, who still seemed too embarrassed to meet his eyes.
At least Hamin didn’t seem eager to get involved with him—but he often got swept up by Haeun, while Geonwoo appeared indifferent. That meant Hamin and Geonwoo weren’t enough to separate Seowoo and Haeun from him.
Glancing back at Seowoo, Sihyeon pressed his lips together at the sight of his smiling eyes.
It felt like being caught in a trap.
After finishing breakfast—which was just as luxurious as expected—and returning to the dorm, a man was standing in front of Room 207, drawing the students’ attention.
“What the.”
At Hamin’s rude remark, the man turned his head. After briefly checking Hamin, his gaze shifted—and landed on Sihyeon.
Blink.
Seeing that the man was clearly looking at him, Sihyeon blinked. It seemed the man had business with him.
“Kang Sihyeon?”
“Yes.”
At his quiet reply, the man approached. Introducing himself as a teacher, he abruptly told Sihyeon to follow him for an interview. Only then did Sihyeon recall what the engraving teacher had mentioned about an interview.
His expression showed clear annoyance.
Still, it wasn’t something he could refuse, so he followed. From the morning onward, it already felt like one of those days where nothing good would happen.
***
“What’s with you now?”
“What?”
Taking advantage of the moment when Sihyeon had left for the interview and Haru had gone to wash up, Hamin spoke, looking at Haeun.
“You know it’s about Kang Sihyeon.”
“Seowoo, you, both of you—what’s so special about him that you’re making such a fuss?”
Hamin asked as if he genuinely didn’t understand. Wearing his uniform properly, Haeun lay sprawled on Hamin’s bed, lightly tapping the mattress with his toes.
“He’s interesting.”
“So what exactly is interesting?”
As expected of Seowoo’s friend—they said the same things.
“Everything he does.”
“……?”
Hamin’s expression filled with confusion at the incomprehensible answer. If his eyes could take shape, they would have turned into question marks. Seeing that, Haeun flipped onto his back, his silver hair sinking into the soft pillow.
“Being the world’s only Quadruple is already insanely interesting, but every little thing he does keeps drawing attention. Starting with how he rejected your partner offer.”
“What’s so special about rejecting a partner offer?”
“It’s interesting because you’re the son of the chairman of S Corporation. You were bothered by that too, weren’t you? It was such a good deal that there was no reason to refuse—yet he turned it down.”
Being a Dual is already a blessing, and on top of that, S Corporation. When you don’t even fully understand your own abilities yet, if an opportunity like that comes along, most people would grab it immediately. Rejecting it isn’t normal, is it?
It was a reasonable point. As Hamin nodded in agreement, Haeun continued. Hamin listened closely, as if opening a Pandora’s box.
“And even so, he still rejected you—that’s what makes it interesting. It was a chance for his status to skyrocket. And there’s more. Even with that face, he seems uncomfortable with people’s attention. Honestly, Sihyeon is objectively good-looking—pretty, even. If we think that, what do you think others see? And yet he acts unfamiliar with people’s gazes. Doesn’t that seem strange? Like he’s never experienced it before.”
There’s no one like that among us.
Even Geonwoo, who was the most uncomfortable with attention, wasn’t unfamiliar with it. He had simply gotten used to it through repetition. Thinking of Geonwoo, Hamin nodded again. Unlike Seowoo—whose words often felt meaningful in an unsettling way—Haeun’s reasoning had its own logic.
“That’s why he’s interesting. Everything he does carries this sense of unpredictability. Acting like he doesn’t know about S Corporation, not knowing much in general—it’s not like he’s stupid, but he behaves like someone ignorant. How could that not be interesting? It’s like he’s hiding something.”
At Haeun’s amused tone, Hamin tilted his head. It made some sense—but there were still doubts.
“He could just be shy or dislike attention. Or maybe he’s just dense about things around him.”
If that were his natural disposition, then Sihyeon became a bit more understandable. As Hamin said that, Haeun suddenly burst out laughing, slapping the mattress.
“Dense?”
Kang Sihyeon? Haeun laughed even harder.
“From what I can tell, at least when it comes to how his brain works, he’s pretty sharp. People like that are usually quick to pick up on rumors too. And no matter how dense someone is, does it make sense for an Awakened to know nothing about guilds?”
“…Well, I guess it could happen.”
With Haeun laughing so much, Hamin felt awkward and added it like an excuse. Seeing that, Haeun shrugged and stepped back.
“Sure, let’s say that’s possible.”
For some reason, Hamin felt uneasy and frowned.
“Someone who holds something comparable to immense power, yet tries to throw it away just to avoid standing out—well, I guess those kinds of people might exist. Very rarely. But for that to be a new class, a Quadruple Awakened?”
Wouldn’t it be more likely for the whole world to turn upside down?
Haeun’s voice, filled with laughter, echoed through the room. Worried that Haru might hear, Hamin warned him, and Haeun lowered his voice, smiling with narrowed eyes.
“See? The more you talk about him, the more interesting he gets. Makes you want to dig into him.”
His voice brimmed with excitement, like a child who had received a new toy. Unable to relate to that reaction—similar to Seowoo’s yet fundamentally different—Hamin found himself, without realizing it, feeling sorry for Sihyeon.
Because Sihyeon had been caught by two of the three craziest people Hamin had ever known. And it was obvious the third would soon take interest as well. There was no way not to feel bad for him.
“You know your way of thinking is missing a screw or two, right?”
At the blunt remark, Haeun laughed, as if he didn’t care what was said.
“So what? You’ll end up the same anyway.”
Whether you like it or not.
The quiet words struck with heavy truth. Biting his lip, Hamin swallowed, the voice echoing in his ears.
I’ll be looking forward to it.
Clenching his fist tightly, Hamin looked at Haeun.
“I’m still not as crazy as you two.”
Even though they had barely met Sihyeon, Haeun had already noticed that he was weak to good looks and used Geonwoo to close the distance. Remembering how Haeun had even made Geonwoo practice pitiful expressions just to keep Sihyeon from escaping, Hamin glared at him, thinking again how insane he was. Yoo Seowoo and Kang Haeun—both of them were completely off by 180 degrees.
“How did I even end up friends with you guys….”
Looking at Haeun as if he had a headache, Hamin let out repeated sighs, running a hand through his hair. At his grievance, Haeun burst into laughter.
He seemed to be enjoying this situation completely.
