Do-jae, Jun-hyung, Do-il, and Yu-hyun sat together in a restaurant, sharing a meal.
Both Do-il and Yu-hyun still bore the marks of the previous night’s drinking. Their slightly swollen eyelids made them look oddly alike, and sitting side by side, they even looked a little cute.
Jun-hyung, to his own surprise, thought Min Yu-hyun and Beom Do-il went well together. He had no intention of playing matchmaker, but still, their chemistry wasn’t bad at all.
“But where the hell are Chi-yu and Tae-oh?”
Do-il stabbed at the meat on his plate with a fork, grumbling.
He was a little sulky after hearing that Yoon Do-jae and Lee Jun-hyung had spent the night together on their own for work. Not that he had any room to complain—he’d abandoned Jun-hyung himself to drink with Yu-hyun until they both passed out. He also knew perfectly well that nothing romantic could ever happen between Yoon Do-jae and Jun-hyung.
The two of them had worked together for years. If something were ever going to happen, it would’ve long ago. And Jun-hyung had never seen Do-jae as anything more than a colleague.
So, he wasn’t exactly worried about the two of them spending the night together.
“Oh, Tae-oh texted me earlier. He said since it’s the last day, they wanted to do their own thing.”
Jun-hyung picked up his phone from the table and re-read the message exchange with Tae-oh before nodding.
“Yeah. Since it’s the last day of the trip, they’ll spend it together.”
“Come on, it’s just a one-night-two-day trip. What’s with the dramatic ‘last day’ talk?”
“Chi-yu’s still out cold. Said he’s too tired to get up.”
“Then what the hell did the two of them do all ni—”
Do-il suddenly clamped his mouth shut. The thought hit him all at once: what do lovers usually do all night?
He dropped the subject, shoving food into his mouth instead.
“Did you check?”
Do-jae asked Jun-hyung.
“About twenty-one of them total. Narrowed down, there are five who seem to be moving together with clear malicious intent.”
Do-jae nodded a few times at Jun-hyung’s report.
“What are you even talking about? Who’s moving with malicious intent?”
Completely lost, Do-il blinked at them. Do-jae gave him a quick rundown on the Anti Club, while Jun-hyung explained that the Guide he’d seen yesterday from that association was actually the operator running it.
He and Do-jae had uncovered more details last night—heinous deeds and illegal activity. Plenty of people besides Kang Chi-yu had been targeted. It was time, he added, for PN to step in and finally root out the organization’s long-standing abuses.
Beom Do-il nodded, impressed.
“So it really was that organized?”
“Yeah. They’ve come after me before, too. Of course, I wasn’t dumb enough to fall for such pathetic tricks, so I wasn’t hurt. But I’ve heard plenty of Guides who went on PairBorn got harassed in all kinds of ways.”
Min Yu-hyun spoke calmly, but Do-il’s eyes grew even wider.
“Damn. They’re seriously vicious.”
“And most of them being first-tier Espers or Guides? That’s what’s outrageous.”
“Wow…”
“Either way, it’s something PN should be handling.”
Jun-hyung’s words made Do-jae nod again.
Yu-hyun took a sip of water before asking,
“But PN, really? The Anti Club itself isn’t illegal. At best, they’ll haul in the ones who crossed the line and put them before the disciplinary committee.”
Do-jae shook his head firmly.
“PN isn’t that incompetent. It won’t end with just tossing a few people to the committee.”
“Even if it did, it wouldn’t matter. I’m planning to gather testimony from all the victims of their long-running abuses anyway. Even if PN tries to sweep it under the rug, they can’t anymore—not with Tae-oh aware. They know it too.”
At that, Do-jae, Yu-hyun, and Do-il all nodded at once.
The difference between Tae-oh moving or staying still always came with massive consequences—no matter what the matter was.
And of all things, they’d dared to target the one and only Kang Chi-yu. The Anti Club might well have to prepare for its own collapse.
***
“Chi-yu.”
Chi-yu stirred at the sound of a soft voice.
“Chi-yu, want to wake up now?”
Tae-oh, worried because Chi-yu hadn’t eaten all day and had only slept, finally couldn’t resist waking him as evening set in.
When Chi-yu forced open his heavy lids, the first thing he saw was Tae-oh’s eyes, their golden glow dulled.
The low murmur, brushing against the haze between dream and waking, filled him with a startling peace.
“If you’re still tired, eat first. Then you can go back to sleep, okay?”
That gentle voice drew him awake. His whole body throbbed as if beaten, the aftershock of overexerting himself with Guiding. Yet seeing the faint light back in Tae-oh’s eyes made him feel like he could endure that pain every day and not care.
“What time is it…?”
His hoarse voice broke out weakly.
Tae-oh brushed his lips lightly against Chi-yu’s cracked ones and answered,
“Four-thirty. Eat a little, then back to bed.”
Chi-yu let Tae-oh’s hand slip behind his neck and help him sit up. Rubbing his heavy eyes with the back of his hand, he muttered,
“I want a hamburger.”
Tae-oh had already spent the day preparing all kinds of food for him—everything from porridge to steak, carefully chosen while Chi-yu slept. But the moment Chi-yu asked, he didn’t hesitate.
“Stay in bed. Don’t get up,” Tae-oh said before hurrying out.
Before he left, he teleported the mountain of food from the kitchen island down to the building’s first-floor lobby, calling reception to tell the staff to share it.
Chi-yu, unaware of all this, dragged his exhausted body into the bathroom. He had no strength left after burning through all his energy.
When he’d briefly woken that morning, he’d already noticed—his body was perfectly clean. Tae-oh must have bathed him while he slept. The thought sent heat surging through his chest.
And suddenly, another thought bloomed.
Tae-oh always did everything for him. Shouldn’t he, just once, do something in return? Always taking—if he had even an ounce of pride, he should learn how to give.
That realization sparked courage.
And when Tae-oh returned with a bag from Chi-yu’s favorite hamburger chain, that courage flared into desire.
Sitting across from each other at the table, sharing their late first meal, Chi-yu called softly,
“Tae-oh.”
“Mm?”
The moment their eyes met, Chi-yu’s throat closed up. Just one simple line—I can give back everything you’ve given me—was all he needed to say. Yet he never imagined it would be this hard.
He swallowed dryly, over and over. It felt like a lump was stuck in his throat.
“What, doesn’t taste good?”
Chi-yu shook his head quickly. He sucked down cola through a straw until the fizz blasted through and cleared his throat.
“Should I… do it too?”
“Hm?”
Tae-oh raised his burger, blinking as if to say, Do what?
“You know… that kind of thing.”
Tae-oh froze mid-bite, the burger suspended halfway to his mouth.
Chi-yu’s face stiffened in awkwardness.
Tae-oh stared at him, dumbfounded. He hadn’t even dreamed Chi-yu would say something like that. His pupils shook violently with shock—or maybe with something else. Maybe with desire.
A restless spark lit his gaze, darker, wilder, unstable.
Chi-yu held his eyes, unflinching. He’d already said it—there was no taking it back. So he spilled everything.
That it weighed on him to keep receiving. That he could give back everything Tae-oh had given him. That even if he was clumsy, Tae-oh could guide him.
Face blazing, he forced the words out calmly.
Tae-oh, still frozen mid-bite, only stared at him.
Something about his wide-eyed look—so boyish, almost cute—made Chi-yu let out a soft laugh.
“Pfft…”
At his laugh, Tae-oh finally shoved the burger into his mouth, chewing twice before swallowing hard.
“Stuff like what?”
The words flustered Chi-yu as much as his own had flustered Tae-oh earlier.
He knew Tae-oh was teasing, pretending not to understand. But he couldn’t glare or snap, You know what I mean.
Tae-oh tilted his head, lips curved with amusement.
“Hmm? Do what?”
Backing down now would feel like losing. Chi-yu steeled himself.
“What you did for me.”
But if Chi-yu had put on a thin layer of steel, Tae-oh’s wall was ironclad.
“What I did for you? And what exactly did I do, Chi-yu?”
Chi-yu fidgeted with the wrapper in his hands, caught off guard by how bluntly Tae-oh pressed him.
He’d gathered up all his courage to say it, only for Tae-oh to toss it back like this—it stung a little.
Maybe noticing right away, Tae-oh’s teasing faded. His voice grew serious.
“What is it you’re so desperate to do for me?”
“…Huh? Well, I…”
“All you need to do is take. Just keep taking. Even that counts as giving.”
“But I still…”
Chi-yu’s fingers kept crumpling the wrapper. After a moment, he went on,
“I want to do it too. Always taking makes me feel guilty, and also…”
“You want to touch me?”
Chi-yu’s face went scarlet in an instant. That hadn’t been exactly what he meant. But then again—wasn’t it?
Because the moment he thought I want to give back, he also wondered: could he make Tae-oh feel as good as Tae-oh had made him feel?
“You want to touch me, Chi-yu?”
The repeated question made his throat bob with a heavy swallow.
