68
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After eating dinner sitting face to face with Doun, Samin was sprawled out on the dining table like a full cat.
‘Somehow being like this makes me feel like a pet living in hyung’s house…… Come to think of it, hyung seems to like dogs.’
Photos of Kim Minhyeok’s pet dog Kim Ppomi were often posted in Yeoun Guild’s group chat. It was also the only timing when Doun, who rarely participated in group chat conversations even though he read them, would react.
‘Since Kim Ppomi is a Maltese, would he like me more if I bleached my hair white?’
As he was having thoughts that would make Doun horrified if he heard them, he jumped up as if he had been waiting when Doun came out to the living room after brushing his teeth.
“Hyung. If we’ve eaten, we should take a walk. The weather has gotten much cooler lately, so it’s perfect for walking.”
“It seemed hot though?”
“No. When I drove here and walked from the parking lot, it felt pretty cool.”
Since he rarely went outside, there was no way he would know about weather changes. Doun glanced out the window and hesitated. It might be okay to briefly walk around the apartment complex’s walking path.
“Alright. Let’s walk in front for a bit.”
“Awesome. Evening walks are totally great.”
To be so happy over just saying let’s walk together. Doun chuckled looking at Samin who seemed ready to dash to the entrance at any moment.
“What are you going to do with so many things you like?”
“The more things you like, the more beautiful the world becomes.”
“Are you filming a public service announcement? Ah, wait a moment. I’ll bring a hat.”
“Yes!”
Listening to Samin’s eager response somehow made him feel like he was taking a pet dog for a walk. Looking closely, his fluffy hair and behavior were exactly like a country mutt.
Doun firmly pressed his hat down and left the house with Samin following behind him like a puppy. Since he said it was cool, he was looking forward to enjoying the walk quite a bit.
However, when they got off the elevator and left the lobby, contrary to Samin’s words, a stuffy night breeze blew. Doun wiped his face in the strangely sticky air.
“Hey. Where did you get such obvious lies from…… It’s not cool at all.”
“Hmm? That’s strange. It was definitely cool earlier? Hyung. The weather must have gone crazy. Global warming is really scary.”
Samin smiled languidly. Saying the weather had gotten cooler was a lie to get Doun outside. Even healthy people get depressed if they’re cooped up at home.
There was a need to forcibly divert Doun’s attention elsewhere, as he had been watching videos in his dark house until his eyes became bloodshot.
“Want to walk a bit then go to a nearby cafe for shaved ice? I spotted a cafe on my way here.”
“……Can’t we just go back inside?”
“Tsk, as a man. Is there such a thing as saying two different things with one mouth? If you agreed to go for a walk, you have to walk.”
“……No. It’s really hot though.”
“Hyung, if you’re complaining about this level of heat, how did you survive in desert terrain?”
“There were buffs and it’s a bit different from back then.”
“What’s different? I was there then too, and it was hotter than now, so if you roughly account for heat resistance buffs, it would feel similar to now.”
Doun, who was already hot and now had Samin sticking close to him chattering, glared at him and shook his head. Rather than having a squabble in front of the apartment building entrance, it was better to take Samin on whatever this walking or cafe tour was.
“Fine…… Let’s go, whether it’s a walk or cafe. Let’s just go.”
Doun walked out cutting through the sticky air. The heat and humidity that deserved the term “discomfort index” made his sunken depression threaten to return.
Eventually, after walking the walking path inside the apartment complex for a few minutes, Doun called Samin to a stop as if he really couldn’t take it anymore.
“Hey. Can’t we just do the walk later and go to the cafe first? It’s absolutely not that my stamina is terrible, it’s just that this air and humidity are annoying.”
The reasons he added after saying his stamina wasn’t terrible, trying to appeal his usefulness somehow, were just cute. Since Samin was also secretly hot, his answer came out immediately.
“Of course we can. We could go somewhere other than a cafe too.”
“Where’s this cafe you spotted?”
“I’ll lead the way. Just trust me and follow closely.”
Samin confidently changed direction from where they had been walking as if it were his own front yard. When they left the apartment complex a bit and came out, there were commercial buildings packed together. It was a place even Doun, who lived nearby, had only been to a few times.
“Here it is? Looking at it, there don’t seem to be many people and the menu looks decent and the atmosphere is good.”
Doun, who surveyed the quiet cafe with wide spacing between tables and few people, quickly pushed open the door. This wasn’t the time to be picky about things. Anywhere was fine as long as he could escape this sticky air enveloping his whole body.
“Let’s go in.”
When the glass door opened and cool air conditioning breeze leaked out, you could clearly see Doun’s rigidly hardened face soften smoothly.
‘He must have really been hot. I need to prepare more thoroughly when going to desert terrain.’
As Samin was resolving to subtly hint to Hong Chan, the supporter, Doun asked after scanning the menu.
“What are you going to drink?”
“Ah. I’ll have iced americano and strawberry shaved ice.”
When Samin habitually tried to take out his wallet from his back pocket, Doun stopped him with a stern expression.
“Hyung will buy it. I’m the one who told you to come to my house.”
“If you put it that way, I’m the one who suggested going for a walk?”
“Don’t keep talking back to hyung.”
“Yes sir.”
Samin’s mouth quickly shut. Just looking at this way of speaking, Doun was what you’d call a young fogey. However, even his pride in being the older brother looked cute to Samin.
‘It’s been really long since someone said they’d buy me something even after knowing I have a lot of money……’
Samin, who was born and raised in a quite wealthy family, usually stepped forward to pay himself. His personality of trying to meet what people around him expected of him played a part, but the bigger reason was that Samin himself wanted to be comfortable. Rather than hear talk behind his back about a rich guy being petty, it was more comfortable to spend a little money.
“Where should we sit?”
Doun looked at Samin while holding the vibrating pager.
“Wherever hyung wants to sit?”
“Hmm……”
After thinking briefly, Doun approached an appropriately empty seat by the window. Since he originally hated people’s attention, he should have chosen a corner seat. At this unexpected choice, Samin narrowed his eyes and sat down across from him. And he could soon understand the reason for Doun’s seat selection.
“Now I feel like I can live a little.”
Doun, who sprawled out as soon as he leaned back on the sofa, breathed deeply. He had chosen a seat where he could feel the air conditioning breeze directly.
He wondered how hot it must have been for him to deliberately choose this seat. His face, half-lying on the sofa, really looked completely drained. Samin let Doun enjoy the air conditioning breeze for a while.
When Doun’s eyes began to regain some life, Samin swallowed a sigh of relief. Then he put a sudden mischievous idea into action.
“That’s right. Hyung, do you know this?”
“What?”
Samin leaned forward and covered his mouth with his palm as if telling a secret story. What could he be trying to say that he’s even positioning himself like that? Doun, who couldn’t stand being curious, also leaned forward, and a serious voice whispered nonsense.
“Right now I’m feeling like I’m on a date with hyung, so I’m fucking excited?”
This crazy bastard. Doun was startled by the word “date” and hurriedly looked around. Fortunately, it seemed no one heard since it was a quiet voice, but he broke into a cold sweat at the explicit word choice.
“Crazy. Why do you say such things so openly outside?”
“Then should I do it more secretly? If I said to sit next to me so I could whisper in your ear, you’d say no anyway.”
“Of course!”
“That’s why I spoke quietly.”
“Samin. Let’s be mindful of time and place.”
When Doun lightly scolded him, Samin pouted.
“If I’m mindful of time and place, then I can say such things?”
“Would that work? Wait. It seems like everything came out already. I’ll go get it.”
“Crazy. What shaved ice comes out this fast? Isn’t that an error?”
It was just when his mischief was getting into gear. The momentum was completely cut off. As Doun left for the counter to pick up their order and Samin was petulantly glaring at the innocent part-timer.
A man coming down from the second floor stairs saw Samin’s face and suddenly muttered to himself.
“What? Isn’t that Slope?”
Samin, whose nickname was suddenly called, quickly turned his head. He thought it was someone he knew, but the man standing awkwardly on the stairs was a face he’d never seen before.
‘What’s with this guy?’
The man who had hesitated at Samin’s sharp gaze didn’t just leave the cafe, but gathered courage and approached near the sofa. As a fan who usually watched Yeoun Guild’s conquest videos often, it was too precious an opportunity to just pass by. What were the odds of meeting a top ranker at a cafe he had entered to kill time?
“……Right? Slope. Yeoun guild master.”
Samin fell into brief contemplation. If he said no here, it seemed like Doun, who was coming this way carrying drinks and shaved ice over there, would get unnecessarily involved.
If this guy was a bad person, he might post trash posts on the Veritas anonymous board like ‘Saw Magnetic and Slope at a cafe but they totally ignored my greeting? Their character ㄷㄷ’. If that happened, Doun’s antis would find prey and rush in like wolves.
‘I absolutely can’t see that happen.’
Samin could ignore being cursed at himself without caring. However, Doun being cursed at was an unacceptable, non-negotiable territory.
Samin, who had quickly finished calculating, nodded.
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Wow. I’m a fan of yours, could you give me an autograph?”
“Ah. I don’t have paper or a pen right now.”
“Then even on my phone’s drawing app.”
The man seemed disappointed and pulled out his phone as a last resort. When he went this far, it would be awkward not to do it. Just as Samin was about to receive the man’s phone, Doun, who had been walking this way with a tray, was frozen stiff.
Roughly interpreting his mouthing, it seemed like he was saying ‘who is that man?’
Despite all the talk behind his back, Samin was the guild master of Yeoun, the elite small guild loved by Koreans high on achievement porn. They say true stars drive both fans and antis crazy.
Although the person who perfectly fit that description was right in front of him, Samin wanted to appeal this situation as much as possible.
“Hyung, see this? This is what kind of person I am? This person says they’re my fan. They want an autograph.”
The moment Samin looked back and grinned, the man waiting for an autograph’s eyes widened.
The man that Slope, the guild master of Yeoun ranked 2nd domestically, was calling ‘hyung’ with a stupid expression – he knew of only one such person.
‘No way?’
The man’s head turned slowly with creaking sounds. Sure enough, the real Magnetic was standing behind him holding a tray.
“Ugh, Magnetic!”
The short scream mixing panic, surprise, and cheering was strangely a choked voice like someone being strangled would make.
“……Hello.”
Doun bowed his head while holding the tray with shaved ice and drinks. He thought he should greet since his nickname was called.
His image until a year ago was already being pointed at as a murderer and thrown into the abyss. Of course, Samin had told him there were many hunters supporting him too, but Doun’s last memory was still entirely of boards filled with posts and comments criticizing him.
He didn’t want to be cursed at as an asshole who wouldn’t even greet. When Doun was looking back and forth between Samin and the unknown man with a somewhat stiff expression.
“Hyung. I’m really a fan…… I’ve been supporting you since school lunch time. Wow, this is crazy. I’m seeing you here. Wow……”
The voice continuously spouting exclamations was quite different from when he had asked Samin for an autograph claiming to be a fan. It sounded excited beyond being moved. Samin, who had been watching all this unfold before his eyes, gripped the phone in his hand so hard it might break.
‘What’s with this bastard?’
His expression was extremely menacing as he was wary of whether a love rival had appeared.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
