36
* * *
After thoroughly touring every corner of Doun’s house, Samin boldly occupied one side of the living room. Sitting on the sofa in a comfortable position as if it were his own home, he crossed his arms.
“Seriously consider a roommate, hyung. Living alone is boring and no fun.”
“I said no. You asked to tour the house for this reason, didn’t you?”
“Well, not exactly that, but…”
“Not exactly my ass.”
Doun snorted. Though he hadn’t known Samin for long, listening to him, there were times when his true intentions were completely transparent. Just like now.
Shaking his head, Doun sat down on the sofa. Though the topic had been deflected with the house tour, there was originally another reason why Samin had come to his house. Even now, he needed to firmly gather his wits and have a conversation.
“Let me know when the unity competition date is set. And I’d like to conquer the 47th floor as soon as possible. What do you think?”
Samin, who seemed like he would oppose it outright, surprisingly showed signs of agreement. In fact, he also wanted to continue tower conquests; he just didn’t like Doun bearing all the burden.
However, Magnetic was too much of an outlier to suddenly impose other hunters’ averages on him. There were too many things he had done alone until now. If they reduced that all at once, he might become depressed again thinking he hadn’t done his part like last time.
It seemed better to take time to gradually share the burden and instill in Doun the recognition that he had real colleagues who would always back him up.
“Got it. Can I readjust the guild members’ schedules first and let you know?”
“That would be great for me.”
“I’ll try to reschedule for the earliest possible date as hyung said, but it might take some time. The kids might have made other plans after the conquest got pushed back. We can’t just recklessly clear the late 40s floors with just the two of us.”
At the explanation continuing in a gentle voice, Doun quietly nodded. He had no intention of demanding that schedules be adjusted to suit him when he was the one receiving help.
Rather, when he should be paying the guild members labor fees, it would be absurd to show displeasure because the schedule was pushed back a little.
“Right. I understand what you mean. Please speak well to the others for me.”
If he hadn’t coughed up blood from the backlash, they would have gone to the 47th floor that very day. Even if he found himself in the same situation again, Doun would make the same choice, but being human, he couldn’t help feeling regretful.
“Of course. Hyung doesn’t need to worry about anything. I’m amazingly good at handling these kinds of things from the middle. Ahem. Trust me and leave it to me.”
It was a very reliable answer. Doun smiled slightly with a much lighter heart. Even casually spouting self-praise without seeming hateful was a skill if it was a skill.
‘Being with him makes me feel carefree too. Though sometimes it’s too hectic…’
Sometimes even while breathing normally, depression would weigh him down for no reason. When that happened, he would struggle helplessly, caught in a suffocating sensation as if buried deep in the ocean.
But now was different.
One day, a man who introduced himself as Kyung Samin had suddenly appeared before him. A guy who seemed made up of nonsensical chatter that made listeners embarrassed and sometimes heartwarming comfort that made him want to cry.
This guy, who could only be described as an idiot, pulled him up every time he tried to become depressed.
‘The more I see him, the more amazing he is.’
Doun quietly looked at Samin. And Samin, receiving such a gaze entirely, pretended to look elsewhere while thinking.
‘What is our hyung thinking about alone again? Look how soft his expression has become. I can’t just devour him. I need to stamp Lee Doun as mine… Ah, is now the right timing to bring up that topic?’
He deliberately ignored his lower half that kept trying to assert its presence. After organizing in his head how to bring it up, he quietly began.
“Ah, speaking of which. Doun hyung, have you ever seen our guild website?”
“Website?”
It was a somewhat out-of-the-blue topic change. But since this wasn’t the first or second time Samin had done this, Doun had come to just accept it. He blinked for a moment then nodded.
He did know it existed. He had searched for it on a search portal while waiting at the psychiatrist’s office.
“I’ve never actually visited it, but I know it exists.”
“Oh? I’m really moved right now…”
“Suddenly?”
“Because hyung knows our guild website exists. You were that interested in Yeoun, or at least interested enough to search for the name once, something like that, right?”
So words could be interpreted like this too. Anyway, he was someone who interpreted things favorably for himself. Doun muttered with distaste.
“…From what I see, you’re way too generous with your emotions.”
It was an assessment from the heart. Last time he said his heart was full just from visiting the guild building once, and now he was moved just knowing the guild website existed. No matter how he thought about it, Kyung Samin’s threshold for emotion seemed too low.
“Geez. I’m not someone who gives my heart to just anyone or gets moved by trivial things, you know? I act like this because it’s hyung; I don’t act like this anywhere else! How iron-walled my heart is!”
“Enough with the weird talk… Why the website suddenly?”
“I need a photo of hyung to post there.”
“…Huh?”
“When new guild members join our guild, we post photos on the member introduction page.”
Doun’s eyes narrowed. He quickly understood what he was talking about. The psychiatrist’s website he had learned about through searching had something similar.
It would mean a page with introductions like greetings and work history along with a benevolent-looking photo of the head director. He had been curious why guild websites existed, but it seemed they were for posting things like this.
“Can’t you just leave me out? There’s no need to do something like that…”
Doun made a troubled expression while drooping his eyebrows. Since he hadn’t taken many photos, it seemed like it would be bothersome and awkward.
“But hyung is also our guild member now, and it would be weird if only hyung was missing. Even guild members who left after less than two months took photos, but hyung will continue to be in our guild even after the 55th floor and beyond, so of course you should take a photo. Don’t you think so?”
He felt like the words ‘continue’ and ‘beyond’ were somehow forcefully emphasized, but Doun didn’t show it. He also genuinely wanted to stay together if nothing major happened.
“If you don’t like it, you can just upload something like an ID photo. Do you have any photos you took before? A solo ID photo of our hyung, different from other guild members, might be pretty good too…”
When Samin saw Doun’s clear reluctance, he started saying whatever came to mind. He could gladly compromise on unified concept profile photography, but website omission was non-negotiable.
Now guild ‘Yeoun’ was a guild housing the 1st-ranked Magnetic. They should create a solo page for Magnetic and gush about what an amazing hunter he was, so they couldn’t omit him from the guild member introduction page.
‘If hyung really hates it, I’ll have to remove the member introduction tab entirely. What’s so pretty about those losers’ faces to post when hyung isn’t even there?’
Yeoun Guild member introductions without Magnetic Lee Doun. Just imagining it was horrifying. Plus, who knew what gossip-loving hunters would say anonymously. It was when Samin was about to speak to Doun while shaking his head.
“Th-that, did everyone take photos at the same place?”
Sure enough, Doun, who didn’t want to be treated differently from other guild members, was quickly hooked.
Come to think of it, thinking about being left out alone made him sad, and he also didn’t like the idea of uploading an ID photo that would make him stand out alone. Opportunist Kyung Samin didn’t miss the chance and quickly answered before Doun could change his mind.
“Yes. We took them at a studio I know. They said it’s better to unify the atmosphere for these kinds of photos. But hyung, if you don’t like it, you can just give me an ID photo. I brought it up like it was forcing you, but I just said it because I felt uncomfortable…”
“No. It’s not that, it’s just that my ID photos come out really weird so I’m embarrassed to give them… And they’re from when I was too young so they’re not really usable either. I’ll just go and take one too.”
At the incredibly docile answer, Samin clenched his fist for no reason.
‘Anyway, Lee Doun is too soft… How do I do tower conquests with such soft tofu? Isn’t this soft tofu abuse?’
Swallowing his gushing internally, his eyes sparkled. He couldn’t miss witnessing the meaningful photo shoot signifying that Hunter Magnetic had come to Yeoun Guild. After quickly finishing his calculations, he grinned.
‘What is he thinking now to smile so lewdly like that…’
Doun looked at Samin with an anxious expression. It seemed he needed to keep a close eye on Samin.
* * *
The photo shoot took place the very next day. According to Samin’s explanation, today was the only day his acquaintance who specialized in photography had a free schedule. Though it felt like roasting beans in lightning, Doun didn’t show it.
Doun sat in the studio in carefully chosen clothes and rolled his eyes. While the lighting and photography equipment were being set up, he reflected on the explanation from the man who had introduced himself as photographer Eunseong.
‘Yeoun Guild profile photos are usually selected with smiling expressions. The guild atmosphere itself is so bright, right? So we’ll mainly take smiling photos of Doun-ssi too.’
Though he had come to the studio, now that he was standing in front of the camera, he began worrying whether he could smile naturally.
‘I’m more nervous than I expected…’
It was when Doun’s face, sitting in the chair, was gradually stiffening. Samin, who had preciously escorted Doun to the studio, stood behind the camera with crossed arms, lost in thought.
‘Our hyung is really nervous. I need to act cute.’
After quickly making his judgment, he immediately put his cute act into practice.
“Hyung. Are you nervous?”
As soon as he asked the question, instead of answering, Doun made a tearful face. It was a more definite answer than any words. Watching that, Samin also ended up making a tearful face.
“Oh my. Why does our hyung look so sad today?”
“It’s really my first time taking photos while smiling.”
A voice much more languid than usual came out. If he had come alone, it would have been quite awkward, but having a familiar face there made Doun’s heart much lighter. Still, he couldn’t help being nervous.
“You don’t need to be so nervous, Doun-ssi. You have a face that will look good no matter how we shoot.”
Photographer Eunseong, who had finished setting up and stood in front of the camera, spoke friendly to Doun. Appearance compliments were always awkward to hear, so Doun scratched around his left eye in embarrassment.
The contact lenses he wore as always to hide his still blue pupil felt stiff.
“Let me take a few shots lightly first. Don’t be nervous and just look this way like you’re looking in a mirror normally.”
It was when the photographer was diligently pressing the shutter to take a few test shots.
“Watching hyung take photos suddenly reminds me of when I took family photos long ago.”
At Samin’s murmur as he watched quietly, Doun’s gaze, which had been awkwardly staring at the camera, turned toward him standing behind the photographer.
“…What about it?”
“I was ten years old, I think. It was a composition where we sat side by side on a bench, you know? But since only I was young, my feet didn’t reach the floor. We were taking several photos and I got so bored that I started swinging my legs, and my shoe flew off…”
It was a speaking technique that subtly trailed off to create curiosity. The moment Doun’s eyes, who had helplessly forgotten he was in the middle of a shoot and focused on Samin’s words, narrowed along with him.
“The shoe flew right into the photographer uncle’s crotch. It flew so hard there was a thud sound…”
“Pfft.”
Doun’s absurd laughter was revealed without filter. The photographer watching that scene became busy with his hand movements. His long experience as a photographer was telling him. An amazing photo was about to come out.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
