62.
After laying Yu Jin back down, Jinhyeon left the room. His gentle expression changed drastically as soon as he stepped out. Though it didn’t take long to cross the room, it felt like an eternity to Jinhyeon. It was that difficult to contain his bursting emotions. He rubbed his forehead with his hand.
‘What’s the problem?’
Last night, Jinhyeon had read Yu Jin’s feelings from his actions. Just as Jinhyeon liked Yu Jin, Yu Jin liked Jinhyeon too. Moreover, he had responded to the suggestion of dating during sex. So Jinhyeon naturally thought they would start dating, but when Yu Jin came to his senses, his reaction was strange. What was the reason? Was it trauma from past experiences? But he had seduced Jinhyeon directly.
‘Or maybe…’
Jinhyeon stopped his hand. He didn’t want to think about it, but Yu Jin might only want a physical relationship. After all, Jinhyeon was the only person around Yu Jin who wasn’t affected by his trauma. Thinking that far, Jinhyeon’s lips involuntarily tightened. He didn’t want to end it as a casual relationship. Honestly, just seeing Yu Jin talk to other men made him feel sick. If he were to find another lover, what would happen then?
Jinhyeon’s expression cooled as he was lost in thought. Keith appeared before him. He looked at Jinhyeon with sunken eyes and was about to knock on the door.
“Yu Jin is sleeping. Don’t wake him up since he couldn’t sleep last night.”
At Jinhyeon’s words, Keith gritted his teeth.
“You!”
“What about me?”
“If only you weren’t here.”
Jinhyeon raised the corner of his mouth at Keith’s words. The feelings that didn’t match with Yu Jin matched with Keith. Right now, Jinhyeon was thinking the same thing as Keith. If it weren’t for him, the person Yu Jin would give his heart to was already decided. It was irritating.
Feelings of hatred filled the quiet space. He thought being jealous of someone was unsightly, but emotions couldn’t be stopped just by thinking. Jinhyeon took a step forward. Keith stared at him intently. Even with just that, he felt like a formidable opponent.
‘As expected, that guy is hiding a lot.’
Even with his explosively growing talent in a short time, he could tell it wouldn’t be easy to kill Keith yet. But Jinhyeon had no intention of backing down. He believed in his talent. His talent bloomed more the stronger the opponent and the more dangerous the situation. So he had to move forward.
Keith began to feel killing intent from Jinhyeon. At that moment, Haruna appeared and stepped between them.
“Stop it! We’re busy enough without you two having weird thoughts. If you want to do this, do it when all the work is done or when you’re dying!”
The heavy atmosphere dissipated at her irritated words. Haruna wasn’t wrong. It would be better to behave for now. Jinhyeon raised both hands in surrender and backed off.
“How’s Yu Jin?”
“He’s sleeping.”
“Then I’ll come back later.”
Haruna turned around again, and Jinhyeon left the doorway without lingering and went outside. He planned to release his unresolved emotions through training. Only Keith remained. He stood in front of the door for a long time before reluctantly turning away.
Yu Jin, who got up from bed after a day, looked at the materials placed on the table. As he had guessed, Keith was competent and brought everything Yu Jin wanted. Among them were new tools made based on Yu Jin’s words. As a result, various handicraft tools and materials were piled up.
“You know how to do this?”
Yu Jin answered Jinhyeon’s question.
“It was a hobby. And you should learn this too.”
“Why?”
“You said you’d solve everything for me. So let’s do it with what I teach you.”
Jinhyeon laughed out loud at Yu Jin’s words.
“That’s cute.”
Yu Jin’s cheeks reddened at the sudden remark.
“What are you saying all of a sudden?”
“It’s cute how you’re trying to hide it.”
There was no way the twins would fall for such a poor lie. Yu Jin knew that too, but doing this made him feel more comfortable. And he wanted to tease Jinhyeon a bit with this opportunity. If only Jinhyeon hadn’t lived so promiscuously in the novel, he could have trusted his feelings. It was mischief that arose from that thought.
Yu Jin first picked up the knotting materials. He had heard that knot decorations already existed in the Dragon Continent. So he had looked at a few in advance, and fortunately, they were methods Yu Jin knew. The problem would be making them suit the local attire.
For this, Yu Jin had asked Marilyn for an outfit. He modified the knots by changing colors and decorations to match it. After completing knots suitable for here, he planned to make ones that would suit common people’s clothes. And in the process, Yu Jin had a realization.
‘The protagonist is good at everything.’
Even though he hadn’t taught him much, Jinhyeon easily created decorations using knots. It was the same with other things. When he held the tatting shuttle, beautiful lace was born, and it was the same with crochet crafts.
“Why are you so good at this?”
Did he actually know it originally? As Yu Jin sent a suspicious glance, Jinhyeon answered while busily moving his hands.
“It just works? It seems easier compared to swordsmanship.”
“Is swordsmanship difficult?”
“It’s not that it’s difficult, but it seems endless. This has an end in sight.”
So that’s how Jinhyeon felt about swordsmanship. It means he has enough talent to feel that way. Yu Jin envied that. He wished he had been born with such talent. Yu Jin couldn’t even properly do the swordsmanship he learned for self-defense as a child. As he was lost in thought, his hands naturally slowed down. Meanwhile, Jinhyeon was developing further based on what Yu Jin had taught him.
‘Is there really anything he can’t do?’
Yu Jin moved his hands slowly and suddenly realized something. Jinhyeon had talked about dating when Yu Jin woke up the day before yesterday, but he hadn’t mentioned it even once since then. Was that the extent of his feelings? He had expected it, but it still hurt.
‘Should I try to hold onto him?’
But that thought was fleeting. It was just because it was still the beginning of the novel and he hadn’t met many people. He would become stronger and meet various people, and many of them were attractive. At that time, could he guarantee that Jinhyeon wouldn’t leave?
Yu Jin recalled his childhood. He wanted his father to like him like his mother did. He wanted to receive even just as much affection as he gave, but it never happened until the very end. Except for the twins, everyone left him or betrayed him. Having lived such a life, he couldn’t trust others.
‘Is Suho a bit better off?’
Although his parents’ relationship wasn’t good, that wasn’t unique to Suho’s family. Even though he had no friends or lovers, at least his life was safer than Yu Jin’s. Though he did die in an accident after being overworked by a black company until the end.
‘That’s a bit regrettable.’
If he had known this would happen, he would have at least tried to report them somewhere. Thinking that far, he looked down at the table and saw the completed lace and decorations spread out. He also received Jinhyeon’s help in arranging them to suit the clothes.
“Why are you putting that there?”
“Why? Isn’t this pretty?”
“Not at all.”
Jinhyeon took the decoration from Yu Jin’s hand and attached it to a different position. Yu Jin narrowed his eyes as he watched.
“It’s women’s clothing, why do you know so well?”
“It’s not that I know well, it’s that you don’t know. You can see it, right?”
Yu Jin pressed his lips shut. Meanwhile, Marilyn’s dress had completely changed from its original state. The more Jinhyeon touched it, the cuter and more sophisticated it became.
“Looking at it like this, it seems like fusion hanbok.”
Is it because of the ornaments? In modern times, even if only the collar was similar, it was called fusion hanbok. He had occasionally seen it on sites sponsoring product creation, and Marilyn’s dress seemed similar enough to call it that.
“Finished!”
The lace was attached to the inside where it wasn’t easily visible. It showed slightly when moving, but wasn’t visible when standing still. He added a waist decoration and attached knotted ornaments. Then he puffed up the sleeves more and changed the ribbon decoration on the chest. With just those changes, a much cuter dress was born. Whether this style would work in this world was uncertain. It was too radical in appearance.
‘But it doesn’t matter.’
What Yu Jin wanted was Marilyn’s favor. That would be enough.
In conclusion, Yu Jin’s plan succeeded.
“Wow! Oh my, what is this? What is this?”
Marilyn’s eyes sparkled like stars as she saw the changed dress.
“Is this a decoration used in the Dragon Continent? Changing the color like this and adding decorations and tassels makes it so pretty. I thought it was pretty but never thought of attaching it to clothes. It suits better than I expected! And this lace! It’s so lovely. Especially the parts that are barely visible. I’ll go try it on!”
The dress fit Marilyn perfectly. Marilyn, who had been dancing around excitedly, stood still.
“It’s wonderful. Could you possibly help me in the future as well?”
“I can’t help directly, but I can teach you the methods.”
“I see. Then we should talk about that.”
Marilyn took out a calculator that resembled an abacus. It seemed she had no intention of completely taking Yu Jin’s ideas for free.
