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* * *
Since birth, Samin was in the most nervous state of all the moments he could remember.
Even when he first awakened as a hunter and entered the tower to meet disgustingly ugly magical beasts, he hadn’t trembled like this. Even though it was a place where one mistake could cost him his life.
The tower where blood and flesh spurted before his eyes. Rather than his novice hunter days when he fought while prepared for injury, feeling the unfamiliar sensation of moving mana, this peaceful moment of casually playing games and asking the person he liked if they liked him back made him tremble more.
Samin looked at Doun subtly and thought.
‘…I want to hear hyung’s answer, but what is this feeling of suddenly not wanting to hear it weirdly?’
When he had babbled about his “preference for crying people” and “wanting to date Doun” in front of the late-night park bench where he met Doun for the second time, it had been a kind of accident.
Although he lived actively, dealing with people cheerfully and skillfully, Samin was only twenty-four years old. His dating experience could be counted on one hand, and even then, he was always in the position of accepting when the other person confessed first.
That messy confession where he rambled about wanting to kill Timer and suddenly said he liked him and wanted to date him—that had been Samin’s first confession.
If someone asked “when did you start liking Doun,” Samin couldn’t give a definitive answer. Even to Samin, who was clear about his likes and dislikes in everything and expressed his emotions without reservation, Doun was quite a complex existence.
As he had confessed at the beach he impulsively visited with Doun, who was gloomy with swollen eyes from crying so much, Samin hadn’t liked Doun from the beginning. If anything, he had disliked him. Because Doun possessed what Samin could never have no matter how hard he tried, yet Doun had thrown it away and disappeared. As if the title of ranking #1 meant nothing at all.
Samin went through a time of trying to pick up that #1 title that Hunter Magnetic had abandoned, proclaimed himself a fan for mental victory, and after sending persistent messages, was finally able to meet Magnetic.
However, contrary to his expectations, Hunter Magnetic—no, Lee Doun—was like a candle that seemed ready to go out at any moment. Perhaps that’s why his heart was strangely drawn to him. Because his idol was actually such a fragile man.
Was it because he had only encountered him through videos? Hunter Magnetic, who had seemed strong, cried so pitifully and swayed precariously in a state that seemed ready to collapse at the slightest touch.
There was no trace of the wondrous figure who had stood at the forefront of hunters, slaughtering house-sized magical beasts.
Lee Doun, not Hunter Magnetic, longing for human warmth, had come out to the park at his contact on a sweltering summer night when they had barely known each other. But when they actually met face to face, he only said harsh words.
‘You said you wanted to be #1, right? Congratulations in advance. You’ll be #1 soon. Since I’m a fucking idiot who can never go back to the tower!’
Except the subject of those harsh words was directed at Doun himself. In that moment when Doun was yelling and getting irritated at Samin. Rather than thinking why he was taking out his anger on an innocent person, Samin was more concerned about Doun’s heart as he cried while spitting out those words.
Because his festering inner thoughts were nakedly revealed over his gentle-looking face.
So Samin wanted to know more about Doun, wanted to become close with Doun, and wanted to be with Doun.
“……”
“……”
At Samin’s question about whether he liked him, Doun organized his complicated thoughts while momentarily forgetting to breathe.
To simply reject him because the awkwardness of being the same gender was bothersome—that awkwardness was far too insignificant. It had long since become so small that it wouldn’t even be noticeable unless he deliberately paid attention to it.
The joy, peace, stability, anticipation, and tenderness that Samin gave him were far greater.
Doun silently looked into the eyes of Samin, who was waiting for his answer. His clear hazel eyes seemed to waver with anxiety.
‘Like an idiot.’
Doun decided to tell Samin, who was sitting across from him, the words he had wanted to hear for so long.
“Samin. If you’re okay with it, will you date me?”
His voice trembled pathetically as he proposed the relationship. He was that nervous, and above all, embarrassed. If he was going to end up proposing to Samin like this anyway, he wondered why he had pushed him away pretending otherwise all this time.
Doun waited for Samin’s answer, his cheeks flushed red, sitting in front of him. Samin, who he thought would immediately answer happily, was just quietly looking at Doun.
The atmosphere was clearly one of acceptance. It was when Doun was beginning to show anxiety at the inexplicable silence.
Samin slowly leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Doun’s. He looked closely into Doun’s eyes while their foreheads touched. Blue pupils that resembled both a clear sky and a clear sea were looking straight at him.
“Yes. I’d like that, hyung.”
Samin answered in a low, calm voice. It was completely different from when he made the cohabitation proposal or when he told him to sleep over—voices where he couldn’t contain his joy and answered while jumping around in happiness.
However, Doun wasn’t anxious. Because he could clearly feel the emotion Samin was experiencing right now. How could he doubt him speaking like that with the brightest smile Doun had never seen before?
At a distance where their lips could touch at any moment, Doun stared blankly at Samin’s face as if mesmerized. Then Samin carefully pulled Doun into his arms. Silently embracing Doun who nestled into his arms, he murmured.
“Now I’m yours, hyung.”
“……”
“Will you be mine too?”
Doun thought while listening to Samin’s loudly beating heart. Samin’s way of speaking was so good. Sometimes his cheeky teasing would make him burst with indignation, but looking back, all their conversations had clear consideration as their foundation.
It was the same now. He firmly declared himself to be Doun’s while actually asking if the other person would become his. Even though Doun wouldn’t have said anything if he had insisted on ownership.
‘I like Samin so much…’
Once the floodgates of emotion opened, feelings leaked out helplessly, as much as he had forcibly ignored them. The emotion was so intense that it would be impossible to stop even if he wanted to, and Doun didn’t want to stop it either.
“…Yeah. I’m obviously yours too. Since we’re dating now.”
Doun answered hesitantly while embraced in his arms. As he had hinted to Samin beforehand, expressing affection toward a person was still clumsy and awkward. Above all, the feeling of embarrassment was greater.
Samin held Doun for a while, then suddenly seemed to remember something and separated Doun from his embrace. It was when Doun showed a bewildered expression at being suddenly removed from his arms.
Samin took off the platinum ring he was wearing on his left ring finger and firmly grasped Doun’s hand.
“This is what I mentioned before—it’s a family heirloom ring my parents passed down to me.”
Doun remembered too. That he was anxious his parents wouldn’t leave him their inheritance if he lost this ring, and that it was a precious ring passed down through generations in the family.
Samin put the ring on Doun’s fourth finger. The ring was too loose for Doun’s finger. Even eyeballing it, he had expected it wouldn’t fit, but still, seeing the ring that was always on his hand hanging on Doun’s finger looked good.
“Why are you giving this to me…”
Doun said, looking down at the large ring that seemed ready to fall off at any moment.
“When my parents gave this to me, they told me to only pass it on to someone I really love and want to spend my whole life with.”
“……”
Samin acted as if he had just proposed.
“Ah, the size doesn’t fit as expected. It doesn’t matter since I’ll have it melted down anyway.”
“…You can melt it down? You said it was passed down to you.”
“It’s fine. Mom said I could remake it if I didn’t like the design anyway. Don’t you like the design?”
“Uh, no… It’s just pretty.”
“Then I just need to resize it.”
Samin slipped the ring spinning around on Doun’s ring finger and put it on his thumb as a temporary measure.
“I’m glad it fits here.”
Samin, who muttered quietly to himself, lightly kissed Doun’s cheek. When Doun unconsciously widened his eyes, Samin, feeling mischievous, went ahead and kissed his lips too.
Even at the sudden kiss, Doun only hesitated for a moment and didn’t recoil or push him away.
‘I’m really going crazy.’
Doun’s attitude of not pushing him away finally ignited him. Samin immediately supported Doun’s neck with his hand and devoured his lips.
“Ngh…”
Every time the tongue that eagerly penetrated between Doun’s lips moved, Doun made groaning sounds in his throat.
How stimulating it sounded. From the first monumental day of dating Doun, Samin had to exercise patience not to lose his reason and pounce on Doun.
“Hah, mmph…”
Doun moaned while tightly gripping Samin’s clothes. From the moment of confession, his heart was beating too fast and his head was a mess.
Samin, who had been frantically sucking Doun’s lips for a while, unconsciously looked down and twitched his eyebrows without realizing it. The middle of his pants was particularly protruding.
“…Hyung. You’re hard down there.”
Doun squeezed his eyes shut. Today especially, Samin’s voice rang clearly in his ears. He was embarrassed to be acting the same way when he had scolded Samin for getting hard at random times, asking if he was a pervert.
Unable to find words to respond and just chewing his innocent lips, Samin reached out his hand to Doun. The place his hand touched was the waistband of his pants.
“Can I pull your pants down a little?”
His voice asking for permission was completely hoarse. When the low, rough sound full of excitement penetrated his ears, Doun unconsciously forgot to breathe and flinched at the waist.
“Just a little.”
At Samin’s plea, Doun hesitated. Then, as if embarrassed, he buried his face in Samin’s shoulder and mumbled.
“…Yeah. You can pull them down.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
