Beom Do-il was the first to speak to Hyun Tae-oh.
“Why the hell would you spend a whole week on a deserted island with Jun-hyung, huh? Just give it to me instead….”
Hyun Tae-oh ignored him, turning his head toward Lee Jun-hyung.
“I’ll give you something else. Just let me have this one.”
“What? You promised me the prize. Now you’re backing out?”
“I’ll give you anything else you want.”
“Anything?”
Jun-hyung raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
Tae-oh nodded emphatically.
“I really need this.”
Jun-hyung tapped the envelope with the ticket against his palm, eyes shifting briefly to Kang Chi-yu.
Chi-yu, preoccupied with answering Guide Min Yu-hyun’s question, hadn’t noticed them.
Jun-hyung thought it was a waste to give up a week-long vacation, but if it was for Chi-yu’s long-held crush, then he could pass the ticket to Tae-oh without much regret.
Honestly, keeping both would only be awkward.
The only people he’d even consider giving the spare to were Beom Do-il or Kang Chi-yu—the only ones he actually enjoyed spending time with.
But if he said he was going to spend a week on a deserted island with Chi-yu, that obsessive Tae-oh might actually come for his throat.
Even though Tae-oh knew Guides almost never saw other Guides as romantic partners, he’d still throw a fit, insisting it was inappropriate.
And giving it to Do-il was just as risky. Lately, Do-il had been coming on far too strong.
Until last year, Do-il had always been careful about showing his feelings, but this year it was like he’d made up his mind to be relentless.
Maybe it was because four years had passed since his Imprint partner, Jeong Moo-young, had died. Perhaps Do-il thought the wound had finally healed.
Jun-hyung sometimes thought the same about himself—that except for rare moments, his grief had dulled.
Not long ago, he’d even wondered if re-Imprinting with Do-il might bring him happiness. After all, if anyone could accept him completely—knowing every corner of his past—it would be Do-il.
But soon after entertaining that thought, he woke one night to find his pillow wet with tears.
For more than two years after Moo-young’s death, every morning he’d wake to a soaked pillow. By the third year, it happened less.
By the fourth year, it stopped altogether.
So when he saw his pillow wet again that night, he realized the truth: he still longed for Jeong Moo-young.
And from then on, every so often, he’d still wake up to a pillow damp with tears.
“…Fine. But in return—”
“What?! Fine?! You’re actually giving that bastard the ticket?!”
Do-il shouted in disbelief at Jun-hyung’s agreement.
“What? Bastard?”
Tae-oh raised an eyebrow, but Do-il was too upset to care.
“It’s a whole week! A week-long vacation! Wouldn’t you rather go with me instead?!”
“Why the hell would I go to a deserted island with you?”
“Why not?! Then who else would you go with?!”
“No one. I’d rather have the money.”
“Liar! You always say money doesn’t matter!”
“That’s just when I don’t feel like working. Anyway, fine, Tae-oh—you can have it. But in return, give me money and promise to grant me one favor later, no matter what it is.”
“What kind of favor?”
“Anything. At some point, I’ll need something from you. When that happens, you’ll do it. Once, no matter what.”
“Fine.”
Tae-oh snatched the envelope with a grin.
***
After filming, Kang Chi-yu was dragged into a room by Hyun Tae-oh, who insisted on enforcing the “promise” right away.
Tae-oh claimed he’d gotten the deserted island ticket from Lee Jun-hyung and told Chi-yu to spend the week with him. When Chi-yu had only said, “I’ll think about it,” Tae-oh declared hesitation meant punishment—and pulled him inside without warning.
Chi-yu begged to at least wash first, but Tae-oh scoffed, “You’re being punished. Since when do you get to make demands?”
And so, not even knowing what he’d done wrong, Chi-yu tilted his head back and let Tae-oh have his way.
Tae-oh pressed kiss after kiss along his neck, repeating the motion endlessly, never stopping.
At the end of that relentless teasing, Tae-oh’s lips brushed Chi-yu’s foot—making him jolt in horror.
“Wh-what the hell are you doing?!”
But Tae-oh didn’t hesitate. He bit at Chi-yu’s toes.
Chi-yu screamed, but Tae-oh only teased his big toe mercilessly.
This was the same man who had suffered from severe germophobia since childhood—now casually putting someone else’s toes in his mouth.
Even without germophobia, it was revolting.
Chi-yu himself had never put another person’s toes in his mouth. It was disgusting—even if they belonged to Hyun Tae-oh.
Wide-eyed with disbelief, Chi-yu snapped,
“You’re seriously insane.”
At that, Tae-oh’s lips curled into a lazy smile, glossy and shining under the light.
“Well, when it comes to you, I’ve always been insane.”
Chi-yu’s brows furrowed. Tae-oh shrugged.
“It’s true.”
“Can’t you just be… normal for once?”
“If I went back to being normal, you’d just find me annoying and scary.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I’d beg you to Imprint with me from the moment I opened my eyes until the second I closed them.”
Chi-yu’s eyes went wide. He thought the talk of Imprinting had died down, but here it was again.
“H-how is that even normal?!”
“For an Esper and a Guide, that is the normal end, Chi-yu. Even your friend did it, remember?”
Tae-oh brought up Jun-hyung.
When Lee Jun-hyung had decided to Imprint with Jeong Moo-young, Chi-yu hadn’t tried to stop him.
He knew they truly loved each other. To him, Imprinting had been the greatest vow two people in love could make.
Of course, back then, he never imagined Moo-young would die.
But now, with all misunderstandings about Tae-oh cleared, and feeling his genuine affection, Chi-yu wasn’t dead set against the idea of Imprinting.
In fact, sometimes he feared Tae-oh was confusing friendship with love. In those moments, he wondered if Imprinting might actually settle things once and for all.
Selfish as it was, he still liked Hyun Tae-oh. He wanted their relationship to move beyond childhood friends—he wanted them to become lovers.
The problem was this idiot childhood friend kept dodging the words let’s date and instead muddling things with lines like I’ll seduce you.
“That’s why you should be grateful I’m holding back, since I’m crazy about you.”
“…Unbelievable.”
“So, you’re giving me that whole week, right?”
Tae-oh reminded him of the hotel ticket.
“…Yeah.”
Chi-yu reluctantly nodded. Tae-oh shouted, “YES!” and pounced on him with a grin.
***
“Why are you even mad about this?”
Jun-hyung leaned back in his chair, arms crossed.
Across from him, on the sofa, Do-il’s face was twisted in misery.
“Because Tae-oh snatched up the prize I worked so hard to get….”
“That wasn’t snatching. It was a trade—money and a favor for the ticket.”
“But it’s a week-long vacation! You’re always saying how much you want time off.”
“Doesn’t mean I wanted to spend it at some deserted island resort. For you Espers, teleporting is easy, but for Guides like me—relying on teleport accessories—it’s a hassle. An isolated resort is nothing but inconvenient.”
“You’d have me, though.”
“And why would I go there with you?”
That hit Do-il hard. His face twisted, wounded.
Jun-hyung almost regretted being so blunt, but reminded himself—Do-il never understood unless you spelled things out.
“What would we even do there? I’d play games, and you’d just sit there watching me all day, right?”
“…That’s exactly what I want. That’s perfect.”
“Do-il.”
“Fine, I admit it. I’ve been pushing too hard lately. Sometimes I regret it, worrying I might overwhelm you. But still….”
“Do-il.”
“You know, don’t you?”
“……”
“You know how I feel. That I’ve liked you for so long, waited all this time… you know that.”
“Beom Do-il.”
“Am I really nothing to you? Not even a chance?”
“…I don’t know how this turned into such a heavy conversation just because I gave Tae-oh the ticket….”
“You gave it to him because you didn’t want to go with me.”
“Say it right. It’s not that I don’t want to go with you—it’s that I don’t see what we’d do there. Just the two of us, isolated—what’s the point?”
“….”
“Exactly. I’d game, you’d watch. Wasting a week like that? I’d rather let Tae-oh and Chi-yu use it. And like I’ve told you again and again—I’m not ready to accept anyone yet. And even if I was, there’s no guarantee it’d be you. I told you to stop looking only at me. Go meet other people.”
“But—!”
“Yeah, I know. It’s hard. But Do-il, people’s hearts are tricky. When you’re hung up on someone, it’s like wearing blinders—you can’t see anyone else until you’ve seen that through to the end.”
“……”
“So widen your world. Meet other people. And if, after all that, you still end up with me… then I’ll face you properly.”
Jun-hyung’s gaze softened as he looked at Do-il.
Do-il opened his mouth, then shut it, sighing deeply before muttering,
“How can you say the exact same words you said last Christmas—word for word?”
“I’ve always had a freakishly good memory.”
“……”
“That’s why I still can’t forget Moo-young.”
At the mention of that name, Do-il’s eyes snapped to him.
Neither of them had spoken Jeong Moo-young’s name in four years.
Jun-hyung had always refused to talk about him—avoiding the subject entirely, even when the silence was suffocating.
Do-il hesitated.
Did Jun-hyung saying his name now mean he’d finally healed, grown numb to the pain?
But no—the truth was the opposite.
Jun-hyung admitted he still dreamed of Jeong Moo-young. That every time he woke, it was with tears on his face.
Hearing that, Do-il’s chest ached, his eyes filling with tears.
It broke him—to think Jun-hyung was still suffering alone after all this time. If he could take that grief away, he’d give up half his life without hesitation.
“Four years have passed… and it’s still him?”
“Even if ten years pass—it’ll still be him.”
The quiet question brought back a quiet answer.
“He’s gone now.”
“I know.”
Do-il nearly asked, So does that mean you’ll never be able to love me? But the words stuck in his throat.
He couldn’t force his feelings onto Jun-hyung like that.
Instead, he drew a deep breath.
“Do-il.”
“…Yeah.”
“Fall in love. Date someone. Really date, fall in love, break up, live through all of it. And if after all that, you still end up with me… then I won’t run anymore.”
“……”
“I’ll look at you properly.”
“You’re really trying to push me into someone else’s arms?”
“…Isn’t that the only fair way?”
“What the hell does fairness have to do with it….”
“Either way, not now. Not like this. If we started something now, it’d fall apart so fast it’d be meaningless.”
“That’s not true—!”
“Go love as much as you can. Leave your first love as your first love, and try another.”
Jun-hyung’s eyes curved in a soft smile.
