The Esper hotel that JPT, the famous construction company, had built on the uninhabited Y-Zone was exactly what people expected from their reputation—lavish, striking, and breathtakingly elegant.
Facing the wide-open sea, the hotel wasn’t designed to host crowds. Instead, it seemed built so that only a handful of guests could stay in comfort and true relaxation.
As soon as they arrived, Beom Do-il and Lee Jun-hyung didn’t even bother unpacking before rushing down to the beach for a swim.
Hyun Tae-oh and Kang Chi-yu stayed behind in their room, busy preparing a cozy corner for the Catdog they had brought along. Min Yu-hyun, muttering that he hated getting sunburned, spent the afternoon alone in a seaside room with a view of the beach.
Meanwhile, Yoon Do-jae strolled leisurely around the island, enjoying its quiet peace.
Jun-hyung and Do-il were overjoyed, like fish dropped back into the water. They had been dating for a while now, and although there had been brief moments of awkwardness at first, their years of friendship outweighed it all. Their relationship wasn’t all that different from when they were just friends—yet it was also unmistakably something else.
It wasn’t like Tae-oh and Chi-yu’s relationship, but there were plenty of similarities.
“Wanna try fishing?”
By the second day, Do-il’s face was already sun-darkened from nonstop swimming. He grinned at the others.
“Oh, I’m in.”
Jun-hyung answered immediately, and Do-jae gave a small nod, saying fishing sounded fine to him too.
“I’ll pass.”
Yu-hyun turned it down flat, earning a jab from Do-il.
“Then why the hell’d you even come here, if you’re just gonna stay locked in the hotel?”
“Not your problem.”
Yu-hyun, who had once blurted out what barely counted as a confession only to be cleanly rejected by Do-il, had recovered quickly. He was relaxed enough now to sincerely congratulate and even cheer on Do-il and Jun-hyung’s relationship.
Maybe his crush on Do-il really had been nothing more than a passing summer shower.
Do-il had been the only A-rank Esper Yu-hyun had ever worked with; he was used to S-ranks. The difference in feel, in rhythm, in everything—maybe that had confused him into thinking it was something more.
“I just feel bad for you, man. You came all the way out here, and you’re acting like some hermit holed up in the hotel.”
“This is my vacation. This is healing. I’d rather do this than make noise.”
“Ahh, right.”
Do-il nodded.
The rest of them—minus Yu-hyun—settled into a fishing spot set up on one end of the island. Tae-oh didn’t particularly like fishing, but since Chi-yu wanted to, he sat obediently by his side, staring only at him. Thoughtfully, he shaded Chi-yu with his shadow ability so the sun wouldn’t touch him. Seeing this, Do-il copied the idea, conjuring water shadows to protect Jun-hyung. But water didn’t block out the light completely, and when sunlight still touched Jun-hyung’s face, Do-il called out.
“Hey, if you’re shading people, cover Jun-hyung too. Don’t just spoil Chi-yu like some thug.”
“Why would I? I look after mine.”
“You can take care of a friend too, you know. Just stretch it and block the sun for him.”
“It’s fine. I already burned enough playing with you two days straight.”
Jun-hyung had barely finished speaking when Tae-oh turned to Chi-yu.
“Should I?”
“Huh? Of course.”
Chi-yu tilted his head with a why even ask that look and nodded. At that, Tae-oh extended his shadow wide, covering even Yoon Do-jae.
“If you’re gonna do it, you might as well cover everyone.”
Jun-hyung, as a Guide, clearly felt it too.
Though Chi-yu had said yes right away, Tae-oh probably thought giving shade to Jun-hyung alone might make Chi-yu uncomfortable. So he shaded them all.
And after doing something so considerate, he went right back to staring at Chi-yu’s face instead of his fishing rod.
“You’re supposed to watch the rod, not me.”
Chi-yu finally burst out, unable to hold it in any longer.
“Honestly, Do-il could just pull us some fish right now. What’s the point of all this when we’ve got a water Esper?”
He said it with a straight face.
“Catching fish isn’t the point. It’s about enjoying the calm, the quiet.”
Do-il shook his head, incredulous.
“You really don’t get the joy of fishing…”
Do-jae, sitting quietly on the far left, muttered the same, as if baffled by Tae-oh. Tae-oh leaned over toward him.
“Of course you’d like it. You’re uptight as hell—you’d enjoy something just as uptight.”
“Calling fishing uptight is foolish.”
“Oh, come on. Calling something uptight when it is uptight isn’t foolish, it’s just honest.”
And so Tae-oh and Do-jae fell into bickering.
Do-il, who had started the whole thing, had already tuned them out and was chatting to Jun-hyung instead.
Watching all this, Chi-yu thought about how much Tae-oh had changed. Before they’d started dating, Tae-oh had hated casual conversations like this.
Even now, he was still cold and distant with most people, treating them like they didn’t exist. But at least with Do-jae, Do-il, Jun-hyung, and even Yu-hyun, he wasn’t like that anymore.
Chi-yu was truly glad that Tae-oh finally had friends he could open up to.
***
Dinner that night was a barbecue party hosted by the hotel.
Chi-yu and the others enjoyed themselves with food and drinks. Tae-oh and Chi-yu kept piling meat onto each other’s plates, while Do-il was busy feeding mouthfuls to Jun-hyung, who was glued to his game.
Yu-hyun frowned at the sight, clicking his tongue. Couples making a show of themselves—annoying. As he lifted his beer, he noticed Do-jae staring blankly across the table.
Do-jae was lost in watching Chi-yu carefully pick out the best-grilled pieces of meat for Tae-oh’s plate.
Still hung up on someone else’s lover—pathetic. But this stiff FM bastard clearly hadn’t let go of his feelings for Chi-yu.
Yu-hyun remembered the time Do-jae, normally so rigid, had fought to protect Chi-yu’s doll. For once, he had looked almost human. But still—knowing when to give up was a virtue too. Yu-hyun’s gaze moved between Do-jae, staring hopelessly, and Chi-yu, who was too tipsy and cheerful to notice.
With a sigh, Yu-hyun nudged Do-jae’s elbow. Do-jae flinched, turning his head. His cheeks were faintly flushed with drink. Yu-hyun held out his beer.
“Drinking alone’s boring. Drink with me.”
Partly, it was to block his view of Chi-yu. But partly, Yu-hyun didn’t want to drink alone either.
Do-jae didn’t refuse. He clinked glasses and drank.
While Tae-oh and Chi-yu’s voices mixed with Do-il and Jun-hyung’s laughter, Yu-hyun and Do-jae stayed silent.
Yu-hyun realized there wasn’t much to talk about with him. Two singles surrounded by couples—no surprise the conversation was lacking. So they just kept drinking.
Even after Tae-oh and Chi-yu left, they kept drinking. When Do-il and Jun-hyung got up, asking how long they planned to keep going, they still drank.
It almost felt like a silent contest—who could outdrink the other. And so, when Yu-hyun opened his eyes the next morning, he nearly jumped out of bed. Yoon Do-jae was asleep beside him.
Yu-hyun shot upright, scrambling back.
Do-jae, who had fallen asleep giving him his arm as a pillow, twitched slightly at the sudden movement.
Yu-hyun blinked slowly, then rapidly.
He hadn’t blacked out. He remembered everything—from the barbecue, to dragging Do-jae to his room despite his protests, insisting, Just one more drink. I don’t want the night to end.
It had been him, Yu-hyun, who had begged for an arm pillow, whining that he didn’t want to sleep alone. And it had been Do-jae who reluctantly, dutifully complied. Until, finally, Do-jae too had succumbed to the alcohol and passed out.
Yu-hyun covered his face, muttering crazy bastard to himself.
What sane person would get drunk and pull something like that with Yoon Do-jae? What sane person would drag him into his room? What sane person would whine about being lonely on a vacation, of all things?
No sane person would…
Silently, Yu-hyun clawed at his own hair.
***
Do-jae woke in Yu-hyun’s room, rubbing his eyes as he sat up.
The one who had kept him awake half the night was nowhere in sight.
For a second, he wondered if it had all been a dream—until the dull ache in his arm reminded him otherwise.
Stretching out his stiffness, he glanced at the bathroom, then shook his head and moved toward the door.
It wasn’t polite to linger in someone else’s room. He stepped outside—
—just as Yu-hyun, freshly washed and hair still damp, was returning.
“Oh, you’re up?”
“……”
“I didn’t want to wake you, so I used your shower. That’s okay, right?”
Yu-hyun didn’t strike him as the considerate type. But apparently, he hadn’t wanted to disturb Do-jae’s sleep and had gone to his room instead.
More likely, Do-jae thought, it was just unbearable awkwardness. The thought almost made him laugh.
He kept his face calm, but inside, he felt the same suffocating awkwardness.
All he’d done was give in to Yu-hyun’s drunken pestering for an arm pillow. Why did it feel so heavy now?
He and Yu-hyun had never gotten along. Their work styles, their personalities, their values—nothing matched. Being around Min Yu-hyun had always been uncomfortable. But last night… had been different.
Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was realizing how competently Yu-hyun had handled their assignments together.
Somewhere in the haze, he’d even found him briefly—almost—endearing. So maybe that was why giving him his arm hadn’t felt like a burden.
“Thanks… for last night.”
Yu-hyun blurted it quickly, then darted into his room.
Do-jae stood there blinking, dumbfounded. But if he had to guess, Yu-hyun was probably feeling just as awkward as he was. That thought curved his lips into a smile. As he headed back to his room, a laugh slipped out of him. The faint scent of soap, clinging from Yu-hyun’s shower, lingered in his nose the whole way.
Looking back, that island trip probably played a big part in Min Yu-hyun and Yoon Do-jae eventually becoming lovers.
For now, though, they stayed awkward through the whole vacation. And when they returned to daily life, that awkwardness became something else—an awareness of each other.
