“Why does that sound… a little off?”
Yu Je-hyun immediately picked up on the strange undertone in Hong Seong-jun’s voice. It felt like a subtle jab—something only someone with his instincts would notice.
“Why do you even care whether I stayed up all night? Whether I was with that bastard or not, what does it have to do with you?”
Though technically teammates, the tension between them was worse than between strangers. From Hong Seong-jun’s perspective, what he had just said was a perfectly reasonable question—for both a fellow team member and someone living in the same house.
All Yu Je-hyun had to do was give a straight answer. But instead, he sidestepped the question entirely. That was what made him suspicious.
Even as Hong Seong-jun stared him down, Yu Je-hyun simply tossed the empty bottle into the recycling bag and turned away without a word.
Before heading upstairs, his cool, steel-gray eyes briefly skimmed the sofa—where Lee Haru was curled up, fast asleep and looking utterly pitiful.
“…And all of this happened in a single day?”
Now alone in front of the fridge, Hong Seong-jun muttered in a low, ominous voice.
“Who gives something just to snatch it away right after…”
His expression twisted faintly as he looked at Lee Haru, who murmured softly in his sleep, smacking his lips like he was savoring something in a dream.
“Ah—no…!”
Almost like he felt someone watching him, Lee Haru suddenly jerked upright on the couch, letting out a startled cry.
Maybe he had eaten a late-night snack—his eyelids were so puffy and swollen they looked like soft mochi.
Still groggy and barely able to open his eyes, Lee Haru wobbled to his feet.
As he scratched his belly and staggered closer, Hong Seong-jun stared at him in disbelief, as though he were witnessing some kind of bizarre, alien creature.
“I’m thirsty…”
Whether his eyes were open or not was unclear, but Lee Haru shuffled to the fridge like it was his own place, opened the door, and grabbed a bottle of water without hesitation.
He twisted off the cap, tilted his head back, and chugged it straight from the bottle with practiced ease. Watching him, completely oblivious to his presence, Hong Seong-jun let out a faint, incredulous laugh.
Just as a dangerous shadow flickered in his eyes—
PFFFT—!
Lee Haru finally noticed him and spit out the water in a sudden burst. It all happened so fast that Hong Seong-jun had no time to dodge.
A fine mist sprayed across his face like some organic facial spray. He raised a hand and wiped away the droplets now clinging to his skin.
The water, having passed through someone’s mouth, was warmer than expected—barely refreshing.
“Why are you just standing there like some kind of ghost…?”
Lee Haru’s heart practically leapt out of his chest. If someone was going to just stand around silently, they could at least make a sound.
He had been enjoying the cool water, eyelids half-closed in bliss—only to suddenly see Hong Seong-jun standing there like an apparition and nearly fainted.
“You are soaked. Hold on.”
Sure, it was Hong Seong-jun who startled him, but it was still his fault the guy got sprayed—especially since it was water he had already had in his mouth.
Panicking, Lee Haru yanked up the hem of his T-shirt to wipe the droplets off Hong Seong-jun’s face.
Smooth, pale skin—completely unblemished—was exposed down to his chest.
Smack—
“That will not be necessary.”
Hong Seong-jun batted his hand away and took a step back. Any desire for a drink had completely evaporated.
“I am going to wash up and come back down. You go clean yourself up too. You remember we never finished the Guiding yesterday.”
“Uh…”
Lee Haru grimaced at the word Guiding. He remembered it vividly—trying to guide Hong Seong-jun, only to be flooded with overwhelming images and then passing out.
Why did the phrase go wash up and wait sound so terrifying?
He had not even managed to say that from now on, they would only do hand-holding Guiding before Hong Seong-jun passed him with a stone-cold expression and disappeared up to the second floor.
Left alone in the massive kitchen, Lee Haru ran his hands through his disheveled hair.
“Can we at least eat before we start?”
He had no idea what time it was, but the rain that had poured down through the night had finally stopped. The sky outside was crystal clear.
Sunlight streamed in through the tall windows, almost blindingly bright. It was probably what woke him, even though sleep still clung to his eyes.
Right before waking up, he had been dreaming about a lavish spread of food—only to have it vanish before he could take a single bite. That had made him feel especially deprived.
“Besides, it is just hand-holding Guiding anyway.”
No matter what Hong Seong-jun said, Lee Haru had no plans to guide him through any kind of suggestive physical contact.
Even based on fragmented memories, it was clear the original Haru had not liked physical-contact Guiding—regardless of the rumors.
Having come to a firm conclusion, Lee Haru went to the bathroom, washed his face, brushed his teeth, and returned to the kitchen.
“What should I eat today?”
The fridge was still packed with ready-made meals—just heat and eat. The sight alone made him hum a little tune.
“For breakfast, something simple… an omelet, some soup, and bread sounds good.”
Normally, he preferred rice in the morning, but living in such an elegant old mansion made him want to indulge in a refined Western-style breakfast.
He picked out what he wanted, put it in the microwave, and set the timer. He also pulled out two bottles of orange juice labeled “100% Pure Squeezed.”
“…What are you doing right now?”
“Oh, Esper Hong Seong-jun, do you want breakfast too?”
When Lee Haru was about halfway through his meal, Hong Seong-jun appeared—looking far more composed and polished than before.
His gaze shifted between Haru and the food on the table, a flicker of confusion passing through his eyes before it quickly curdled into anger.
He clenched his jaw so tightly it seemed to ache, then ground out his words like they left a bitter taste on his tongue.
“Guide Lee Haru, have you already forgotten why you came to this mansion? Unless you are actually possessed by a hunger demon, what the hell is this…?”
He could not even finish the sentence. His fists balled at his sides, his entire frame subtly trembling.
“This is all for survival. So of course I am going to eat first. I cannot stand being hungry.”
If someone asked him what drove him to keep living, he would answer without hesitation: food. That was how deeply he hated the sensation of an empty stomach. No matter how positive he usually was, hunger always turned him sharp and irritable.
“Just a moment. I am almost done.”
Even a dog is left alone while eating, Haru grumbled internally, shoveling the remaining food into his mouth as quickly as possible.
He cleaned his plates so thoroughly they looked freshly washed, then stood up from his seat.
“Where would you like to do the Guiding? How about the living room sofa?”
He gestured subtly toward the open space, hoping to avoid a repeat of yesterday. Being trapped in a closed room with just the two of them had made it feel like Hong Seong-jun might pull down his pants and pounce at any moment.
“…What, are you into showing off now?”
But his suggestion landed wrong—completely wrong.
To Hong Seong-jun, any Guiding session with Haru began with sex and ended with sex. That was simply how it worked.
So this sudden shift—Haru acting so differently, suggesting they do it somewhere others might see—felt jarring. Irritating, even. He could not understand the change.
Especially considering that the old Haru would have rather died than let someone like Kang Min catch even a glimpse of him during Guiding. Clearly, something major had shifted inside him.
“Well then, maybe putting on a show is not such a bad idea after all.”
It was a perfect case of complete miscommunication.
Lee Haru, for his part, had been planning to let Kang Min and Yu Je-hyun see him guiding Hong Seong-jun in a clean, strictly nonsexual way—just holding hands. If they saw that, maybe they would stop acting like unbuckling their belts was a natural part of the process.
If they came downstairs and witnessed a calm, hands-only Guiding session, it might prevent any more trouble before it started.
“…You have got to be kidding me.”
Hong Seong-jun dragged a hand roughly through his hair, disbelief flooding his features. Seeing Haru casually flick water off his hands at the sink only made the absurdity feel heavier.
“Fine. If Guide Lee Haru is that desperate to give people a show, I will play along.”
“W-Wait a second—!”
Haru barely had time to react before his wrist was seized. He dug in his heels instinctively, but it made no difference—his body was dragged effortlessly.
It did not even seem like Hong Seong-jun was trying that hard, and yet the difference in strength was overwhelming. With a careless tug, Haru stumbled and was thrown unceremoniously onto the sofa.
“If you mess up the Guiding again today, then your little suicide stunt yesterday will have been for nothing. Because I will kick you out myself.”
Standing in front of Haru’s sprawled form, Hong Seong-jun placed a hand at his waistband. Haru, hunched slightly forward, had his T-shirt riding up just enough to reveal smooth, pale skin beneath.
As soon as he caught sight of the stiff buds poking through that delicate skin, a dull throb radiated through Hong Seong-jun’s lower abdomen.
The image of the moist, soft membrane wrapping tightly around his cock was so vivid that a sharp gleam returned to his gaze.
It was unfolding just like the day before. Alarmed, Haru quickly crossed his arms into an X and leaned back instinctively.
But all that did was bring his eye level directly in line with Hong Seong-jun’s crotch—since the firm sofa gave him nowhere else to retreat.
“I think… you are misunderstanding something here…!”
“A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?”
Only now did Haru realize what Hong Seong-jun had meant earlier. True, he had never actually explained that his plan was to just hold hands on the sofa and guide.
But still—trying to whip it out in a public space where anyone could walk down from the second floor at any moment?
That was a whole new level of unhinged.
