“I’m telling you, it’s not some weird energy.”
Su-min’s calm rebuttal echoed faintly in the background. Jae-ha, still a bit dazed, kept replaying Hae-hyun’s words in his mind. The puppy that had leapt out of the box and followed him around everywhere. That face, so naturally saying he wanted to help him. The way he’d insist on monopolizing Jae-ha’s time, acting cute and clingy. Countless signs of affection.
…And all of that was because of the blood of a spiritual beast flowing through his body?
“I absolutely do not like you. I mean, I do like you, but definitely not in that way!”
The words he’d heard just hours ago hit him like a punch to the back of the head. Jae-ha unconsciously covered his mouth with his hand. Holy crap. His eyes, wide with shock, wavered aimlessly.
Of all the thoughts that had crossed his mind, the idea that Hae-hyun didn’t have feelings for him had never been one of them—especially after clearing up the misunderstanding about Hae-hyun and Hae-ryeong.
But that was the truth?
“Anyway, let’s stop getting caught up in the little details.”
It was Hae-ryeong who broke the silence. As if nothing had ever been serious, she turned back to them with a lighthearted smile.
“First things first, let’s clean up the scene.”
They tidied up the wrecked clubroom, moved the still-unconscious Yoon-taek to the couch, and stepped outside. By then, it was already the early hours of the morning.
“Here.”
Su-min handed Hae-ryeong a red candle. Just like during the MT, it had burned down to a sliver, now only about as thick as a tealight.
“You actually found it? Where was it?”
Hae-ryeong examined the candle closely, tilting it in her hands. Su-min shrugged.
“Figured it’d be where the energy felt the strongest.”
At first, he had fled downstairs to escape the candle’s attacks. Given how large the Business building was, shaking off the pursuit hadn’t been difficult—at least by Su-min’s standards as a spiritual beast. Once he had put some distance between himself and the wax trails left across the lobby floor, he quickly climbed back up the emergency stairs.
Whether Jae-ha won the game or not didn’t matter. The real way to end this was to find the candle’s original body and put it to rest. And odds were, the candle would be somewhere near the person it had possessed.
“Either it was too drained, or just not focused enough—but it didn’t even notice I was there.”
Su-min had completely suppressed his energy and presence, allowing him to slip into the clubroom before Jae-ha arrived.
While the candle was distracted with the game, Su-min had quietly searched the room and found the faintly burning red candle shoved inside a bag carelessly tossed on the sofa.
The moment he blew out the flame, the ominous energy that had enveloped the entire building began to dissipate. Just then, Jae-ha entered the room—and as Su-min was about to break the candle without getting caught…
Jae-ha got grabbed.
“If I’d just gone in and destroyed it, who knows what might’ve happened to Jae-ha since he was already caught by it.”
Su-min shrugged. So he had stopped himself. The situation was turning more serious than expected, and just as he was about to prioritize rescuing Jae-ha, Hae-hyun appeared.
“Though honestly, I didn’t think he’d just go in guns blazing like that.”
“And you think you handled it with finesse?”
As the two of them started bickering, Hae-ryeong stepped in with the final word.
“Looks like your timing worked out. Hae-hyun used his power just as the Imoogi found the candle.”
Hae-hyun and Su-min both grimaced at the same time, clearly annoyed. But Hae-ryeong didn’t care one bit.
“Still, now that we know Jae-ha’s a descendant of the Cheonrok, everything makes a lot more sense. It needed the Cheonrok’s energy. No idea how, but that candle already knew what Jae-ha really was.”
Even among high-level beings, few were as uniquely gifted in healing as the Cheonrok. Finding such a rare existence—it was no wonder someone out there had gotten greedy.
“But I don’t have that kind of power. And I’ve never healed anyone in my life.”
Jae-ha frowned in confusion. People got hurt all the time. If he had some sort of healing ability, there was no way he wouldn’t have noticed by now. At best, he’d always figured he just had a slightly better-than-average recovery rate.
“And why go to all this trouble for me? If they needed a Cheonrok, why not just call the real thing?”
“Or, I don’t know, just ask nicely.”
Hae-hyun and Su-min both looked equally unconvinced. Hae-ryeong just shrugged again.
“Beats me. It’s all guesswork for now. Once we analyze the candle, we’ll have more answers. Still, if you really are a Cheonrok descendant, at least you won’t have to worry about getting hurt.”
“…Didn’t I just almost get hurt?”
Jae-ha asked, bewildered. Hae-ryeong burst out laughing.
“Aww, our Jae-ha was scared? At worst, they’d have just carried you off like some delicately wrapped gift. Most beings don’t even consider harming a Cheonrok. Even the ones who could wouldn’t dare.”
Was that even possible? Surely there were cases where violence couldn’t be avoided… But then, Jae-ha thought back. Had anyone ever really tried to hurt him?
Other than a few slaps on the back from his mom or sister… not really.
…Wait, seriously? Even among his rowdy, affectionately-violent guy friends, no one had ever laid a finger on him. Sure, part of that was probably due to his relatively high social standing, but maybe it also had to do with his species after all.
“It’s a good thing, right? At least now we know you won’t be getting hurt anytime soon.”
Hae-ryeong’s chipper comment made Hae-hyun frown again.
“That’s really all you have to say? What about that other candle we recovered—still no analysis results?”
“Apparently it’s taking longer than expected. Sounds like it’s giving them more trouble than they thought.”
“Why is it taking so long?”
“The Guardian Agency’s short-staffed lately. We’re getting slammed with dispatch requests—it’s a nightmare.”
Hae-ryeong grumbled, and though Hae-hyun looked annoyed, he didn’t argue. It seemed he had a general idea of how things were going over there too.
Since it was so late, the group split up. Hae-ryeong returned to the Guardian Agency. Hae-hyun and Jae-ha headed home. Su-min returned to his den.
“By the way, where is your den, anyway?”
Jae-ha asked, not thinking much of it. Su-min had mentioned a lake—maybe somewhere like Seokchon Lake? What other lakes were there in Seoul…?
“Right here.”
“Huh?”
Su-min pointed somewhere on campus. As Jae-ha followed the direction of his finger, his eyes widened in shock. His school did have a lake—quiet, secluded, practically forgotten.
The same lake where Hae-hyun had saved him from falling in.
“Wait… you mean the school lake?”
“Yep.”
So that’s why I kept trying to go in there… The final puzzle piece clicked into place, and Jae-ha’s brain lit up with a metaphorical exclamation mark.
“If we’re done talking, let’s go already, sunbae.”
Watching Jae-ha’s stunned reaction with a blank expression, Hae-hyun abruptly grabbed his wrist and tugged. Clearly done waiting. As Jae-ha was dragged away, he waved back, and saw Su-min bow his head slightly.
Then Jae-ha blinked—and Su-min, who had been standing there just a moment ago, had vanished without a trace.
***
5) Hand
The day after all the chaos, Jae-ha went to class and then headed home to his parents’ place.
Located in Gyeonggi-do, the trip from school took over two hours. Since he barely visited even during breaks, showing up unannounced in the middle of the semester made Kim Mu-yeon, who was watching TV in the living room, widen her eyes like she’d seen a ghost.
“Oh my, what’s going on?”
“I just wanted some homemade food.”
Most of the food on Mu-yeon’s table usually came from the neighborhood side dish shop. It was a half-baked excuse, but she nodded anyway, though her expression remained skeptical. Whatever the reason, she wasn’t about to scold her son for actually coming home for once.
“Whoa, what the heck. Why are you here?”
Near dinnertime, his sister Ah-young came home. She looked at him like he was some rare animal. Sprawled out on the couch, Jae-ha didn’t even respond—just glanced her way briefly. Used to it by now, Ah-young turned to Mu-yeon, who was sipping coffee.
“Mom, why’s he here?”
“Says he wanted homemade food.”
Ah-young immediately scrunched her face in irritation and glared at Jae-ha like he was some kind of unwanted guest.
“What? But I was gonna order chicken today! It’s my cheat day!”
Do you even have a day that’s not a cheat day? Jae-ha swallowed the thought and lazily waved a hand. He didn’t feel like arguing.
“Go ahead.”
“Oh sweet, there’s three of us—let’s order three chickens! I was stuck between Cheongyang mayo and soy garlic anyway.”
Instantly back to cheerful, Ah-young plopped down next to him on the couch. She shoved his stretched-out legs out of the way and made herself comfortable, tapping away on her phone as she mumbled about the timing being perfect. Jae-ha tapped her arm with the sole of his foot.
“Order fries too.”
“Ew, get your nasty foot off me.”
Swatting his leg away, she finished placing the order and set her phone down. Then she glanced between Jae-ha and Mu-yeon, eyes gleaming with curiosity—like something had just clicked.
What’s with that look? Jae-ha frowned, a vague sense of unease creeping in.
“Hey… are you planning to take another leave of absence?”
