4) Checking the Answers
The phone that had slipped from the bedside lit up on the floor. The lock screen—a picture of Deputy Chief Jeong’s little white puppy, Baek-gu, with a drip of snot under its nose—flickered briefly before the light faded again.
Normally, Ji Se-min would’ve picked it up, checked for cracks, maybe even wiped off the dust. But right now, he couldn’t bring himself to care.
Twenty-three. Not particularly young, not particularly old—but if he had to pick the most bewildering moment in his twenty-three years of life, it would probably be this one.
“M-marriage?”
Sleep vanished instantly. Still half in his yawning posture, Se-min froze, lowering the hand that had been covering his mouth. Sung Cha-hyeon’s bright, boyish smile deepened as he looked at Se-min’s stunned expression.
“……”
No, he couldn’t have misheard. His hearing was perfectly fine, and there was nothing remotely similar in pronunciation to “Shall we get married?” that could’ve caused confusion.
Which meant… Sung Cha-hyeon had really just said, “Shall we get married?”
“…Hyung, what are you even saying right now…?”
To someone who literally just woke up, no less.
His thoughts scattered into a mess before he could speak. A moment later, heat flooded his face.
“Huh…!”
He half-turned away, pretending to rub his face as if checking for pillow marks. Luckily, he didn’t look too bad for someone who’d just rolled out of bed.
His fingers brushed from his eyes up to his hair, pushing through the messy strands in an effort to tame them—or maybe just to buy himself a moment to think.
Unlike the flustered Se-min, Cha-hyeon looked effortlessly composed, as if he’d never even closed his eyes all night. His tall, handsome face—free of any morning puffiness—remained fixed on Se-min without wavering.
Once he’d at least made himself look presentable, Se-min took a deep breath. His face still burned, but at least now he looked somewhat ready for a serious conversation. When he met Cha-hyeon’s gaze again, something twisted in his chest—a mix of anxiety, confusion, and something he couldn’t name.
“Are you serious?”
His voice came out clearer this time. His heart was pounding. A nervous thought crept in—what if this was just one of Cha-hyeon’s jokes?
With his teasing nature, it wouldn’t be out of character. And really—who proposed the moment someone woke up?
If it was a prank, how should he react? Laugh it off? Pretend to be relieved after being startled? Either way, it was the kind of joke that would probably leave him feeling a little hurt later.
“Of course I’m serious.”
…And just like that, every thought in Se-min’s head screeched to a halt.
“…Why?”
If he truly meant it, then why? How had he even reached that conclusion?
Marriage wasn’t something you just blurted out—it was something lovers talked about after years together, when both were ready to make that promise.
Sure, Se-min and Cha-hyeon had known each other for a while, but they hadn’t been dating long. Their first date—if you could call it that—had ended halfway when a dungeon gate suddenly opened. And though they’d definitely crossed the line into being lovers, wasn’t it far too early to be talking about marriage?
Besides, Se-min was only twenty-three. People his age were usually in college or the military. If anyone he knew was getting married, it was usually because of some urgent reason—like a pregnancy—not because they’d planned it.
When Se-min didn’t answer, lost in thought, Cha-hyeon tilted his head slightly.
“You don’t want to?”
“No! It’s not that—it’s just… way too sudden! We haven’t even talked about it before….”
Cha-hyeon looked at him quietly, then patted the spot beside him. Feeling his pulse quicken, Se-min awkwardly shuffled over. The familiar scent of Cha-hyeon’s cologne lingered faintly in the air.
Gulp. He swallowed hard. His hands fidgeted in his lap, one covering the other like he was trying to hide them.
For a while, neither spoke. Then Cha-hyeon wet his lips and spoke in the same calm tone he’d used when he dropped that bombshell.
“I get that it’s sudden. But honestly, I’ve been thinking about it since the day I said we should date as pair partners, with marriage in mind. I didn’t think you’d be this surprised. For me, it was just… natural. If I ever got married, it’d be with you.”
The words were long and unexpectedly tender—almost too sweet coming from someone like him. He stared off toward the ceiling as if reading from a well-rehearsed line.
“But after what happened yesterday… I started thinking we should make it official as soon as possible.”
His eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of yesterday. Se-min, who’d been nervously swallowing, blinked in confusion.
“Yesterday?”
What could’ve possibly happened during a dungeon raid to make him decide something like that?
…Did he maybe see something in my Mindscape? Like, I dunno, me dreaming about marrying him or something?
He hadn’t had the chance to ask—he’d been too shaken after finding out that Cha-hyeon had entered the dungeon alone.
Thinking about it now… maybe? Or maybe not. His memories from the dungeon were hazy, half-forgotten impressions at best.
But what Cha-hyeon said next wasn’t anything he could’ve predicted.
“If I die during a raid—”
“Hyung!”
Before he could even finish, Se-min shot up from the couch, heart pounding wildly.
Dungeon raids. Death. Those were the two things that hit Se-min’s deepest fears head-on.
“Don’t say stuff like that! Wh—what do you mean, during a raid? Don’t even joke about something so unlucky! Ever heard the saying that words have power?”
Cha-hyeon blinked at him, looking slightly taken aback, then gave a sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. Clearly, he hadn’t expected Se-min to get this upset. But the forced smile trembled faintly on his face.
“Okay, I won’t. I just… you always get anxious whenever I go into a dungeon, so I thought… maybe if we were legally tied, you’d feel safer.”
Se-min held his breath, realizing he’d probably overreacted. He’d panicked at the thought of Cha-hyeon dying. Exhaling sharply, he flopped back down onto the couch.
“You could just write a will or something instead… Ugh, fine. I said stop, didn’t I?”
His glare sharpened again. Cha-hyeon raised a hand in surrender, as if to calm him down.
For someone who’d just been proposed to, Se-min looked far from flattered—his hand raked through his hair again, turning it into a bird’s nest as he let out a frustrated sigh.
“And also…”
Rubbing the spot under his ribs, Se-min shot him a wary look. If Cha-hyeon said one more word about dying, he was ready to smack him.
Thankfully, he didn’t.
“There’s something I haven’t told you.”
“…What is it?”
Cha-hyeon’s lips twitched into a faint, embarrassed smile as his gaze drifted toward the empty air—probably looking at his invisible status window.
“After we cleared the dungeon, there wasn’t anything. But when I woke up this morning, there was a new reward.”
Se-min’s heartbeat stopped for a moment. Before he even processed the words, a surge of instinctive anticipation welled up.
Could it be—? The one that said (1/3)…?
“The number on the Unclaimed Rewards List went up by one.”
A rush of warmth flooded over him, like someone had poured sunlight straight through his head. The fear that had been clinging to him melted away in an instant. From scalp to toes, a pleasant, tingling heat ran through him.
“R-really?”
His voice trembled as he clenched his fists. Cha-hyeon turned back from the air and smiled softly.
“Yeah. Must’ve happened overnight. I was asleep, so I didn’t notice anything strange, but when I checked again—it had changed. Though… how should I explain it.”
He tilted his head, lightly touching his earlobe—a small, almost shy gesture that softened the sharp edges of his eyes.
“It’s like… I can feel something. Emotions I used to have for you, hidden inside the lost memories. Not the memories themselves, but the feelings.”
It was an unexpected revelation—when the number increased, he could feel the emotions from the memories he’d lost?
Se-min tried to steady himself. His head was spinning, his ears burning. The half-joking thought that this ranked among the Top 3 Worst Proposals Ever had long since vanished.
“…W-what kind of feelings?”
Cha-hyeon smiled gently at his pair guide.
“It’s confusing, honestly. Dating someone who used to feel like my little brother. But… I think I’d already started seeing you differently before then. Maybe if a few things had gone differently, we’d have become something more a lot sooner.”
Se-min’s lips parted slightly. Cha-hyeon’s gaze flicked briefly toward the air again.
~Unclaimed Rewards List~
♦ …Clear Reward… (1/3)
His eyes curved into crescents, a quiet smile pulling at his dimples.
“So… shall we get married?”
Just like the Sung Cha-hyeon he’d always known—calm, teasing, and utterly sure of himself.
