Chapter 60
He definitely thought Eunseong would get angry.
But Eunseong showed an unexpected expression. He bit his lips tightly and his face turned bright red. It was an appearance that greatly stimulated someone who was already having difficulty maintaining composure.
“……”
Mujin suddenly moistened his drying lips with his tongue.
He fiddled with the tip of his eyebrow with his finger. As if the teasing was over, he straightened his back and sat up properly. Then he began explaining with a serious expression.
“My core broke during the rampage. You were the one who saved me when I almost died then. I’ve been in this state ever since.”
Mujin told the story while omitting the part about how Seorin couldn’t completely block the damage from the rampage, how his Hwanghwa leaked out through the dagger Eunseong had stabbed into him, and how he was affected because of that. He intended to keep that part hidden even if Eunseong’s memory fully returned.
“……It’s a serious condition, isn’t it?”
Eunseong asking the question looked terrified. It seemed he was trying his best to hide it, but his lips were already turning blue. Really, he was so weak-hearted. Mujin clicked his tongue in displeasure.
“Does a core absolutely have to be smoothly intact? Even if it wasn’t just cracked but turned to powder, I’m confident I can control it. Don’t you trust me that much?”
“……”
Eunseong looked completely unconvinced. He couldn’t be reassured and his face remained without any trace of a smile. Mujin felt frustrated.
“I’m really fine, I tell you. Smooth out that frown.”
Eunseong, who had been rolling his large eyes that looked like blue glass beads this way and that, suddenly got up from his chair. Then he approached Mujin closely. When he climbed onto the bed carelessly, Mujin tensed and stiffened his body.
“……Why?”
“Then let me examine it closely.”
“You can see like before now, I guess?”
Mujin asked about something he already knew.
“Stay still for a moment.”
Eunseong, who had pressed his body close, pressed his palm firmly against Mujin’s chest as if listening with a stethoscope. Mujin looked down at him while frozen. Seeing those focused eyes directed at him made his chest tighten constrainedly. Because of that, his body might become strange.
“……”
Mujin looked down at Eunseong’s crown and bit the inside of his lips. The fluttering hair tickled his chin.
How was he so unaffected before?
“Mujin.”
Eunseong suddenly lifted his head without warning. Because his own head had been gradually lowering without realizing it, his lips ended up rubbing against the soft tip of Eunseong’s nose. Flustered, Eunseong quickly wiped his nose.
“……”
“What I mean is, ahem… I’m right, aren’t I? It looks okay?”
Mujin was the first to break the stiff atmosphere.
It certainly looked more stable than when he’d seen it on the rooftop. When Eunseong just hesitated, Mujin smiled and tilted his head.
“Rest a bit more, and if I take care of myself, it’ll get better.”
“Really……?”
“Really.”
Their gazes examining each other became more deeply entangled. Eunseong tilted his head diagonally to avoid Mujin’s eyes that kept looking at his lips. Was it just his imagination? Or maybe he himself had become strange. Suddenly, security became urgent.
“Then from now on, let me see it whenever I want to.”
“It’s yours. Do as you please.”
His face heated up again at the answer that came out so readily.
“What kind of……”
Eunseong, who was about to say that since they’re people, what’s this “yours” and “mine,” bit his rolled lips. There was probably no need to particularly deny it.
“If, if you just don’t overexert yourself, it’ll probably be okay as you say. Let’s watch carefully from now on. Be careful… and tell me right away if it’s bad, and there are so many people in the world who live while managing their bad parts, right? I’ll take good care of you too.”
Eunseong continued with excuse-like words while keeping his gaze down.
“Good, now shall we talk about your story too?”
Mujin grabbed Eunseong’s chin and turned it toward himself. Their gazes that had fallen apart met again.
“What?”
“How did you do it? That rift.”
Though he half-guessed, Mujin needed to know how much Eunseong knew when he used his power, and whether it was a skill he had deployed exactly as intended. So his gaze examining Eunseong’s face was careful and meticulous.
Eunseong had spread a blueprint in the air and created a rift.
Returning the changgui without destroying it was truly an ability befitting Eunseong. Mujin was captivated without resistance by that beauty, then soon judged that skill to be extremely dangerous.
Until now, they had fought by responding when rifts opened. But if it became known that Eunseong could create rifts, it was obvious what kind of reaction people would have.
It would change the tide of battle. It was truly a skill with tremendous utility value.
If there was one thing Mujin, who had conducted countless rift subjugations, knew best, it was the existence that opens passages. The monster that must be found first among monsters, and killed with the highest priority. Just as hunters and monsters each have individual cores, the existence that opens passages was no different from the core of an entire army.
“……I did recall what my father said, but honestly, that’s all there is. It wasn’t a skill I used with any determination.”
Eunseong shrugged as if it was no big deal.
“I think he scolded me harshly, telling me to never, ever create such a thing again. It seems like a childhood memory. But I don’t know if I can do it again.”
When Eunseong asked with wide eyes if it was needed, Mujin shook his head firmly.
“I think it would be better not to do it again.”
“You’re saying exactly the same thing as my father. But I don’t know if I could do it again anyway.”
“Is your body okay? I didn’t see any nosebleed, but you’re so weak after all.”
Mujin curled up his lips as if relieved.
“……Isn’t your body weaker than mine, Mujin? That blood on your t-shirt is your blood, right? Do you know how shocked I was? With your core in that state, it looked like you could die at any moment.”
“You also showed me your dying face, so it’s a draw.”
Eunseong had nothing to say about that part, so he could only keep his mouth shut.
Knock, knock, Yeon Seokchun made his presence known with a knock from outside the door. Mujin answered briefly while still keeping his gaze fixed on Eunseong.
“Yes.”
“Team Leader Woo Nayeong wants to contact you. I didn’t want to disturb your rest either, but the phone has rung over a hundred times. How should I convey this?”
“Tell him to wait a bit longer.”
“……Understood.”
The sound of Yeon Seokchun swallowing a small sigh could be heard clearly through the door. After his tired footsteps moved away, Eunseong frowned as if incredulous.
“Is Team Leader your secretary? What’s so difficult about making a phone call?”
When Eunseong got up to bring his phone, Mujin caught his wrist and flopped down. Because of that, Eunseong’s body also swayed. Without time to be flustered, Mujin’s uncharacteristic whining continued.
“You’re being too cold to someone who barely survived an explosion. Do you know my phone got completely burned too? How much it hurt……”
Though he might worry, he wasn’t naive enough to be fooled by such dramatics.
Eunseong ignored Mujin’s groaning and pulled out his caught hand.
“Then we’ll have to buy a new one. While we’re at it, let’s buy one for me too. Jiwon-ssi asked for my contact info but I couldn’t give it to him. It was inconvenient for me too.”
“……Who is Jiwon-ssi?”
Mujin asked with narrowed eyes. When had he been playfully whining, but now his expression was completely wiped clean.
“The Sayeong Guild buffer, Park Jiwon. The person helping me reawaken my buff skills. Did you already forget?”
“Ah.”
It was an extremely indifferent response.
“But why do you need to give him your contact info?”
“Because he asked for it?”
“He likes you? Ah, am I asking something obvious.”
“……What?”
What kind of random nonsense is that, Eunseong widened his eyes.
“Why would Jiwon-ssi like me? Jiwon-ssi is a man. Don’t you remember that either?”
“If he’s a man……”
Mujin stopped talking mid-sentence and closed his mouth tightly.
After glaring at the ceiling for a moment, he suddenly got up. Before Eunseong could react to the suddenly elevated view, he turned his body and walked toward the door.
“I just need to make a phone call, right?”
He opened the door and went out just like that, leaving Eunseong alone to blink.
“……What was that?”
Following Mujin out to the living room, a savory smell wafted over. With incredibly perfect timing, delivery food had just arrived. Ha Yera waved her hands at the embarrassed Eunseong.
“Perfect timing, oppa. Sit here. Let’s eat.”
Even while being led by her gesture to sit on the sofa, Eunseong glanced at Mujin standing in the kitchen area. Mujin’s face, holding Yeon Seokchun’s phone and talking with Woo Nayeong, showed no particular expression.
“Please do that. Yes. I’ll go. Team Leader can handle that……”
Even while receiving pizza from Ha Yera and taking a bite, Eunseong’s ears were open toward Mujin. Finally, the long phone call ended and Mujin returned the phone to Yeon Seokchun.
“I’ll buy new devices on my way out.”
At Yeon Seokchun’s words, Eunseong raised his hand while still having a pizza slice in his mouth.
“Me too. I need to buy one too, Team Leader.”
Then Mujin’s face, which had been calm until just before, hardened coldly again.
“You can’t.”
“Huh? Why?”
Eunseong looked around at everyone in the house with a face that didn’t understand, but they all avoided his eyes as if by agreement.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
