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Doun was quite flustered. The atmosphere was completely different from the texts Samin had poured out to him.
‘Didn’t it appear in your constellation horoscope…’
It was clearly a provocative tone to anyone who looked at it. If Samin had been texting him in that tone all this time, he probably would have blocked him immediately without any hesitation.
Before Doun could stop him, Samin quickly pressed the send button.
“Won’t this cause a fight?”
“It’s not like I cursed at him, so this much is fine. This bastard goes around subtly saying bad things about our guild to reporters too. He should be grateful I’m even replying to him.”
Since Doun didn’t know the relationships between other guilds and Yeoun well, he didn’t know what to say in response and just turned his head away. He thought it wasn’t his place as a mere guild member to add his opinion.
“Hyung, want to drink more?”
Feeling strangely thirsty, Doun nodded. As he gulped down the drink Samin handed him, Doun shook off the thoughts that were complicating his mind.
‘Even if there are problems, they’ll somehow be resolved.’
Samin would handle situations much better than himself, who had been holed up at home because he was afraid of people’s gazes, so what was the point of worrying? He didn’t know what other people might think, but at least in Doun’s eyes, that guy called Kyung Samin was someone who would live well on his own without needing anyone beside him to worry about him. And with that grinning face, no less.
‘Hyung shouldn’t worry about it either. If you have energy to waste on weird guys like that, use it on me instead. I’m in the middle of seriously courting you right now. Don’t you feel sorry for me?’
Was it because there was a guy right in front of him telling him to think about him more instead of wasting time on useless worries? Or was it because Samin was gradually feeling more trustworthy?
‘If something happens, we can think about it together then…’
Living with Samin, Doun was gradually learning on his own how to let go of unnecessary worries. Doun’s left eye, which had turned blue, briefly tried to return to its original color, tinting black for just a moment before returning. Samin, who had been quietly watching this, wore a gentle smile.
‘Dalseong Farm Organic Natural Apple Juice 340ml. Good. I need to buy more of that. Seeing him drink his second bottle, he must really like it.’
Feelings that were somewhat trivial, quite childish, worthless to some, but more sincere toward Doun than anyone else’s, overflowed.
* * *
Unlike the bustling front entrance of the Yeoun Guild building, the back of the building was surprisingly quiet. There were quite a few passersby, but they were all ordinary citizens unrelated to hunters. They couldn’t fully understand a world where people not only voluntarily entered places where strange creatures appeared, but frequently lost their lives.
A man mixed among these ordinary citizens looked around, then approached a tightly locked iron gate. His action of quickly entering the password looked very familiar.
Seo Subin, who had entered the quiet building interior after the front entrance was locked, rolled his eyes while waiting for the elevator.
‘It’s my first time seeing Magnetic-nim, so why am I nervous about this?’
Veritas System nickname Spare Key. He was active as a sub-healer in Yeoun Guild and took several deep breaths in succession.
It had already been 20 days since Magnetic joined the guild. Most hunters consumed tower conquest videos like games as if they were brainwashed, but they strictly belonged to the realm of reality. If you were attacked, you got hurt, and if the wound was deep, you died.
Because of this, when personnel were added to conquest teams, it was essential to have time to coordinate with existing members. Even hunters rumored to be veterans inside towers were no exception.
However, except for the three days of the unity competition, Magnetic joined some of the existing conquest team immediately without any notable adjustment period.
‘Subin hyung. Doun hyung is just… just crazy. You’ll understand what I mean once you go through a tower with that hyung.’
When Subin once asked “How did it feel to conquer together with Magnetic?”, Do Hyeonwoo had answered like that. Even objectively, setting aside his own deep fandom, he was someone with many things to learn from.
‘Ah, but maybe it’s because of his immunity skill. This hyung doesn’t really know how to take care of himself. I think you and Suyeon hyung will need to watch him carefully.’
He recalled Do Hyeonwoo’s tip as he got on the elevator.
Magnetic’s conquest of Floor 53 had ended successfully today. Starting from Floor 54, due to the conquest difficulty and characteristics, not only supporter Choi Jiyoon and himself as a healer, but also Park Sangyeon in the tanker position and Dong Jiwon in charge of collection had to join. The ‘Magnetic High-Pass Amazing Group’ was originally a temporary composition decided to move up to Floor 53.
‘And Doun hyung has a really gentle and soft personality. It’s a bit awkward to say this, but he really seems like he’d get scammed easily.’
Thinking that he would finally see Magnetic in person, whom he had only heard about from others, made him extremely nervous. He had exchanged a few conversations in the group message room, but talking face to face was a different matter.
‘I should suggest we get close, calling each other hyung and dongsaeng.’
Subin steeled his resolve as he got off the elevator. When he threw open the door to the guild master’s office and looked inside the noisy interior, he could spot the real Magnetic hitting Samin’s back.
“Ow, hyung, it hurts… My back hurts!”
What kind of scene was this? Subin just blinked while holding the door handle.
The immature guild master was hunched over with his eyes tightly shut. Though he kept saying it hurt with his mouth, his mouth corners were raised so high they reached his ears, so it was obviously an act.
“That’s right, Doun-ssi! Well done! Hit him more! That bastard needs to get beaten up to come to his senses. It’s so refreshing! All this time when I hit him, only my hands hurt. Beat him more!”
Even sub-guild master Choi Jiyoon, who acted most rationally in the guild, was encouraging Doun and even clapping. The other guild members had similar attitudes. Everyone was watching, but Kim Siwon went even further and was filming a video with his phone.
“…Um, I’m here.”
Subin hesitantly and timidly announced his presence. Only then did the guild members turn their heads and acknowledge him.
“Oh. Subin came? You’re the latest. Even Jiwon came early.”
“There was a lot of traffic.”
When Subin sat down with an awkward smile, the bickering sounds stopped. Doun had stiffly separated from Samin at the appearance of a guild member he was seeing for the first time.
“Subin, perfect timing. Say hi to our Doun hyung. Hyung, that’s Seo Subin. He’s our guild’s conquest team sub-healer.”
When Samin introduced them, Doun nodded and greeted Subin as if he had never been beating him like catching a mouse.
“Hello. This is the first time I’m seeing your face. I’m Lee Doun.”
“Hello, hyung! I’m Seo Subin. I’ve been helping my parents’ store, so somehow I never had a chance to meet you. Please take care of me.”
Subin extended his hand sociably, and Doun responded to the handshake with a somewhat more familiar posture.
“Wow, our guild’s highest floor conquest team is finally all gathered? The feeling is strangely fresh.”
When the two finished their greetings, Samin smiled while looking over the people gathered in the office. Among the familiar faces he always saw, there was just one more clear face that always made him feel good, but the world looked beautiful.
“Then let’s put our heads together and figure out what the acquisition conditions for the movement skill we got are.”
And so, after Doun joined, Yeoun Guild’s first regular meeting began.
* * *
After quite an intense meeting, the acquisition conditions for ‘Leaping Steps’ were narrowed down to roughly two possibilities. And they concluded to postpone answering external questions about whether it was really a movement skill as much as possible. Since not all guild members had acquired it yet, hastily releasing information would only benefit others.
‘I’ll respond to interview requests saying I’ll do it once the content is organized.’
Choi Jiyoon took charge of external contact as if she was used to it, and the guild members scattered to their respective homes.
Normally, it would have been time for Samin, who had accepted Doun’s cohabitation proposal, to just pack necessary luggage from his own house. The schedule had gotten slightly disrupted because they unexpectedly acquired the world’s first movement skill.
Samin skillfully finished parking in the parking lot of Doun’s apartment where he would be living from today. Having passed through the apartment lobby and entered up to the entrance of Doun’s house, he said this to Doun, who was taking off his shoes:
“Hyung. I’ll quickly go to my place and pack just what I need.”
“Huh? Then you should have dropped me off at the parking lot and gone.”
“I just wanted to see you go into the house first.”
Actually, he had stayed close in case Doun showed any signs of anxiety, but he didn’t mention it for fear that Doun, who already had low self-esteem, might become dejected.
“If you’d be bored alone, I’m fine with you coming along too.”
Doun hesitated for a moment. He wanted to contemplate the skill a bit more, and he was reluctant because he thought hunters who might recognize Samin or himself could ask various questions if they went out for no reason.
“Uh… No. I’m a bit tired, so go by yourself.”
Since Doun looked quite tired, Samin didn’t pester him insensitively either. He just smiled and nodded.
“Hyung, then I’ll just quickly pack my things and come back.”
“Yeah. Go ahead.”
Doun stood at the entrance and saw Samin off as he left the house again. Then Samin smiled brightly and waved his hand gently.
“Yes. I’ll be back.”
Samin gave a brief greeting and quickly left the house. The front door closed and the sound of light running footsteps gradually grew distant. Doun, standing in front of the suddenly quiet entrance, blinked blankly.
‘I’ll be back…’
Though he had proposed living together to Samin with his own mouth, ridiculously, it was only after hearing those words that cohabitation felt real. Finally, he too had someone who said they would return to this place.
Doun stood for a long time in front of the entrance where Samin had left, listening to the sound of his heart beating rapidly—thump, thump. Though he was alone, knowing there was someone who would return made him no longer lonely.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
