95
Yeon Ji-ho moved his fingers urgently. He wasn’t trying to read “The Star of Hadad” again at this point. He was simply hoping that a way to meet Set again might be written here.
Touching the cover of “The Star of Hadad,” which depicted stars falling like rain, the screen immediately changed. Even the brief moment when the screen turned white for loading was agonizing.
“The Star of Hadad
Romance Fantasy | ishkur | Total 12 volumes
★4.9 points (9,999+)
Reviews
★☆☆☆☆ tls1*** : Save Set
★★★☆☆ gaia*** : Good at first, but rushed ending at the end..ㅠ Disappointing
★☆☆☆☆ jeus*** : The ending is BS tlqkf
“It’s really there, it’s there…”
Nothing had changed from what he had read. For a moment, he considered rereading “The Star of Hadad,” but now it felt unnecessary. He tried clicking on volume 1 just in case, but it was no different from before.
Suddenly remembering Gliese’s prophecy, he looked for a review event, but it seemed to have ended as there was nothing in the novel’s announcement section.
Biting his lower lip, Ji-ho eventually searched the work’s homepage a bit more. He was looking for the author’s contact information.
What caught his eye was none other than “Other Works by the Author.”
As far as Ji-ho remembered, the author of The Star of Hadad didn’t have any other works. Ji-ho, who had been so impressed by The Star of Hadad, had tried to read other works by the author while waiting for the conclusion, but was disappointed to find nothing.
But now, under “Other Works by the Author,” there was another work besides The Star of Hadad. The name was…
“☐☐ ☐ ☐☐ ☐… What’s this, why is it all squares?”
Even the cover showed nothing but white, so Ji-ho thought it might not have refreshed properly and tried exiting and re-entering the app. But still, the other work showed nothing but unreadable characters.
When pressing the work’s cover didn’t elicit any response, Ji-ho finally turned his attention to something else. It was the author profile information he found while searching the work’s homepage.
ishkur
Having found the author’s email address, Ji-ho didn’t hesitate to enter the mailbox of the site he had been using for a long time. Then, he clicked “Send Email” and copied and pasted the author’s email address.
After some consideration, Ji-ho first expressed his fan enthusiasm for The Star of Hadad along with a simple greeting. He was afraid it might be treated as spam otherwise. Then at the end, he even asked if it would be possible to meet, if it wasn’t too presumptuous.
He sent the email, including a desperate plea for even an online conversation if meeting in person was difficult. After spending a long time writing the email, Ji-ho was finally able to press the “Send” button with difficulty.
After that, a sigh he had been holding back burst out.
“…What do I do now?”
In reality, this was all he could do. It was frustrating that all he could do now was wait for a reply.
After that, Ji-ho wrestled with the tablet for a long time and eventually started binge-reading The Star of Hadad. Fighting off drowsiness, Ji-ho struggled through the novel until he finally collapsed on the bed, losing consciousness around volume 5. All he had gained was a sense of how great a character Hadad was.
That night, Set appeared in Ji-ho’s dream.
Under a dark night sky twinkling with stars. Set was wandering alone in a vast field.
His desperate expression clearly showed how precious what he was looking for was. Ji-ho gradually extended his feet towards Set. Then Set turned his head towards him.
‘…!’
Set’s eyes widened as soon as he saw Ji-ho. His expression then wavered as if he might cry at any moment, startling Ji-ho who tried to approach and hug Set. But his outstretched arms passed right through Set.
At that moment, someone behind Set called out loudly.
‘Your Excellency!’
Only then did Ji-ho see the caravan parked in the distance. Apophis, Chronos, Shango, and Isquis were all standing in front of it, looking only at Set.
Despite someone’s call, Set didn’t look back but took a step towards Ji-ho. Ji-ho’s heart swelled at the fact that only Set had discovered him here, and he opened his mouth to speak.
‘Set.’
And at that moment, everything distorted like an illusion. When he came to his senses, it was early morning on some day.
***
Recently, Seon-rok had been having a lot of worries. The reason was none other than Yeon Ji-ho, the neighbor kid who had suddenly left for another world alone and returned about a month ago.
Seon-rok, who had been pegged as the son of a rich family from birth, had never experienced a difficult life. Although he went through a lot of worries and turbulence about his traits when he manifested as an omega, even that was quickly accepted by Seon-rok’s inherently bright personality.
Then, at his father’s hospital which he frequented as a hobby, he met an alpha who loved him wholeheartedly. There might have been common family opposition, but his father, who had a similar personality to Seon-rok, even offered to hand over his position as hospital director, celebrating the marriage.
However, his ex-boyfriend and current husband, who was quiet by nature and disliked standing out, declined the hospital director position and retreated to the countryside. Seon-rok followed him to the countryside without hesitation and even set up a pediatric clinic, which had been his lifelong dream.
“Augh. What should I do about this, honey? Huh?”
Seon-rok, who had lived without much hardship, was pulling at his hair for the first time in a long while. Soo-cheol, who was quietly watering plants nearby, asked softly.
“What’s the matter?”
“What do you mean what’s the matter! It’s because of Ji-ho. Have you seen Ji-ho recently?”
“…We saw him together a week ago.”
“I’m not talking about a week ago, I mean yesterday or today!”
Soo-cheol’s eyebrows twitched, and Seon-rok thumped his chest as if feeling frustrated. It wasn’t his naturally quiet husband that was frustrating, but the thought of Yeon Ji-ho living next door.
“The kid is wasting away day by day. He’s already over two months pregnant but can’t eat anything. It’s driving me crazy, really…”
“He’s lost even more weight since then?”
Soo-cheol also frowned at Seon-rok’s words. Even to Soo-cheol, Ji-ho had already looked like he had lost a lot of weight when they saw him a week ago. To hear that he had lost even more weight from there, Soo-cheol also bit his lip.
“Yes! This morning sickness, what kind of… He’s likely to lose the baby at this rate. He can’t even stand the smell of water now. Haa.”
“…It would be terrible if he collapses like this.”
“I think it would be better if he received pheromone therapy. But even that’s only possible if the baby’s health can support it. You know, right? Pheromone therapy isn’t easy.”
Finally, a long sigh escaped from Soo-cheol’s lips as well. Seon-rok and Soo-cheol first saw Ji-ho when he was barely ten years old. To them, Ji-ho was always a child they needed to protect, so it was natural for them to be worried.
“Honey, should we just tell Ji-ho to get hospitalized? That troublemaker hanging around him seems to be getting on his nerves too. Wouldn’t Ji-ho listen if you or I tell him?”
The reason Seon-rok hadn’t been urging Ji-ho to get hospitalized until now was because the kid was alone. The hospital where he could be admitted was quite far from this rural village, requiring a car ride, and no matter how hard Seon-rok tried, Ji-ho would naturally feel lonely.
Especially since most omega obstetrics departments were full of husbands accompanying their partners, Ji-ho, being alone, would feel even lonelier.
“For now, let’s just keep an eye on him. A sudden change in environment might make it harder for him. I’ll start checking on Ji-ho every day from today…”
Soo-cheol spoke calmly as he put down the spray bottle and wiped his wet hands. However, for some reason, Seon-rok wasn’t looking at Soo-cheol but was staring out the window.
“Oh, damn. That bastard is lurking around Ji-ho’s house again.”
“…Who?”
“The one who keeps telling nonsense to the villagers about being Ji-ho’s husband and whatnot. Wait, I’m going out to give him a piece of my mind.”
Seon-rok rolled up his sleeves and hurried towards the front door. This routine had been repeating lately.
Ji-ho was wasting away due to morning sickness and pregnancy, and the man who introduced himself as Hadad kept getting on Ji-ho’s nerves.
It seemed like there was some deep relationship between the two, but Seon-rok felt there was no room for him to intervene, so he was just chasing the man away.
Just as Seon-rok had put on his shoes and was about to open the front door, he felt a familiar notification sound from the mobile phone in his pants pocket and paused for a moment.
“…Hm?”
Seon-rok’s eyebrows twitched as he checked the screen. The name that appeared in the notification was familiar.
“Yeon Ji-ho”
“Well, well, Ji-ho actually contacted me first.”
The kid who never contacted first, thinking he would be a bother, had reached out. Seon-rok unlocked his phone and checked the message before going outside.
“…What is this?”
Seon-rok’s face frowned. Of course it did. The message that had arrived…
“Yeon Ji-ho: wlgrghgw Ji-ho” 10:32 AM
“Yeon Ji-ho: Where Ji-ho” 10:36 AM
It was Ji-ho looking for himself.
