# 35
“I-I didn’t mean anything strange by it, I just thought I’d help you if no family showed up for you.”
“That’s enough for me.”
“That was then, not now.”
“Why?”
“Why, you ask…”
“Now I need Hunter Lee Jin-ha’s help, your care.”
With that, Riyekan leaned toward Jin-ha. Just before their lips met, Jin-ha turned his head. Unfazed, Riyekan kissed his cheek instead, making audible smooching sounds as he slid downward. When his lips brushed Jin-ha’s jawline and reached his neck, Jin-ha was startled enough to shrink back.
“S-stop it…”
“I want to get along well with Hunter Lee Jin-ha.”
“I said stop it…”
“I can’t do without Hunter Lee Jin-ha.”
It was the kind of statement that could easily be misinterpreted. Jin-ha quickly added a clarification to prevent misunderstandings on both sides.
“You mean for two or three months to a year, right?”
“Uh…”
Jin-ha was so focused on pushing Riyekan away before he could try any more cheap tricks that he failed to notice how ambiguous the man’s response was. Jin-ha pulled Riyekan to the bed and sat him down.
“I thought you were just playing with me for no reason, purely for your amusement. That’s why I got angry.”
“Hmm…”
“I heard you have a strange habit of becoming fixated on things.”
“…That’s right.”
“Do you become anxious when I’m not around?”
The man, who had been rolling his eyes and mumbling vaguely as if troubled, finally nodded at Jin-ha’s direct question.
“Yes. I become anxious.”
“You should have just said so from the beginning.”
“At first, I was planning to do that after bringing you to the tower. But someone was so stubborn that it made me stubborn too.”
“That was because I was angry…”
“What a coincidence. Someone gets angry very easily too.”
Did he think that using “someone” instead of “you” while talking to a person’s face made it acceptable to insult them? Jin-ha took the man’s cheeks in both hands, forcing eye contact with him as he looked away petulantly.
“Never mind that. Let’s talk.”
“About what?”
“We both want something from each other, so let’s share what we have.”
“Doesn’t Hunter Lee Jin-ha already have a contract with me?”
“That was a promise to faithfully serve as your toy, but is that really what you want?”
“Well, no…”
Jin-ha made a sincere promise to the man who readily admitted this.
“I will do my best to be your rock.”
“What? Why a rock of all things?”
“Then a sheep?”
“Where did you hear about that…”
Riyekan sighed as if perplexed and waved his hand.
“Neither. If you were like either of those, I wouldn’t have said that nothing about Hunter Lee Jin-ha goes my way. What I want is…”
“Is what?”
“……”
“What is it?”
“…What is it?”
Was he asking me? Jin-ha looked at Riyekan’s blank face with disbelief.
“You just said you needed care.”
“No, it feels somewhat different.”
“Then for now, let’s just…”
“We can’t just casually dismiss such an important matter.”
Jin-ha was already growing tired of this situation. Sensing this, Riyekan made a sulky face.
He was truly troublesome in every way. Yet, Jin-ha wasn’t completely annoyed. He found his own feelings difficult to understand.
“Then I’ll speak first.”
Jin-ha shook off his distracting thoughts and spoke.
Originally, he had decided to help with this matter because the Deputy Director of the Anomaly Management Agency had promised to provide his father’s documents without any redactions. Presumably, those documents contained information about his father’s identity.
But he was supposed to receive those documents at least three months later.
Jin-ha wished to learn about his father as soon as possible, even a day earlier if possible.
“While passing through the Corridor of History, I saw the name Senistry Abon.”
“Yes. The name of the Master from two generations ago.”
“It was written that she was a princess from the Abon Kingdom. I want to know about the country of Abon.”
“That’s too broad a scope.”
“I’d like to start there anyway.”
If the Abon of his father’s birthplace and the Abon Kingdom of Senistry Abon’s surname were indeed the same place, there might still be people there who remembered his father.
If the person he’d ended up dealing with had been ordinary, Jin-ha wouldn’t have had such expectations, but Riyekan was a wizard. Perhaps he could pinpoint what would otherwise be like finding a needle in a desert, in a world without digitized information?
Maybe he could even find relatives. But Jin-ha still lacked enough trust in Riyekan to make such a request.
“So this isn’t your final request.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, I like it. Then I’ll do the same.”
“The same?”
“Let’s start with my need for care.”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t want to be vague about it?”
“If additional requests are possible, there’s no reason to dislike it.”
Riyekan shrugged and once again leaned toward Jin-ha. His lips parted, naturally…
Before that could happen, Jin-ha blocked the man’s lips with his hand.
“Wait, this kind of thing isn’t included in my care.”
“I’m making an additional request.”
The nonchalant addition was unbelievably shameless.
Jin-ha’s mouth fell open in disbelief, which Riyekan somehow took as an invitation and quickly moved his face closer. Just before their lips met, Jin-ha barely managed to block Riyekan’s mouth with his hand again.
“I don’t know how people here behave, but I don’t kiss casually like this.”
“We’ve already kissed casually twice.”
“Those were unavoidable! The first time was because I wasn’t feeling well, and the second time was because you weren’t feeling well, so we had no choice!”
Riyekan’s brow furrowed with displeasure. Jin-ha quickly continued before the man could say anything.
“In my world, this is something only couples do.”
A gaze that questioned his sincerity followed. Of course he was sincere. What reason would there be to kiss if not in a serious relationship?
…Except in life-or-death situations.
“And even if I were dating, I wouldn’t do it unless the relationship was very serious.”
Jin-ha added this partly to disgust Riyekan. Since the Alpha gender seemed generally promiscuous, hearing this would likely make him back off.
But contrary to expectations, Riyekan merely narrowed his eyes and looked Jin-ha up and down as if measuring something, without showing disgust or backing away. For some reason, the statement seemed to anger Riyekan instead.
“So you won’t give me anything? While Hunter Lee Jin-ha takes everything?”
Riyekan’s twisted lips revealed his distorted feelings. He was looking at Jin-ha as if he were some kind of swindler. Seeing the eyes full of deep distrust, Jin-ha hurriedly waved his hands.
“That’s not what I meant. And what have I taken…?”
“You’re planning to take, so it’s the same thing.”
“Planning to take means I haven’t taken anything yet.”
“Anyway.”
This wasn’t a matter to be dismissed so easily. Riyekan’s attitude had become quite harsh, thinking his objectives would not be met.
“That’s not what I meant…”
“Then what did you mean? Let’s make it clear.”
Left with no choice, Jin-ha revealed his uncomfortable thoughts.
“…Riyekan, you said you need me, but that’s probably just a short-term need for two or three months to a year. I’m not the kind of person who can kiss in such a relationship.”
Riyekan looked at Jin-ha as if he couldn’t understand the statement itself. It was a look Jin-ha often received when saying such things on Earth.
“So you don’t want to do it with me?”
“It’s not about wanting or not wanting. What if I keep kissing you and end up genuinely liking you? Could you take responsibility for me for the rest of my life?”
Jin-ha wasn’t someone who gave his heart easily, but he had already given it to the man before him. Perhaps his continuous anger and effort not to show interest—to the point of not even being curious about the man’s name—were all because of a heart already given.
In truth, even now he couldn’t take his eyes off those beautiful eyelashes flickering before him. Every time those eyelashes moved gently, every time those deep blue eyes like a dangerous, deep lake were hidden and revealed again, Jin-ha felt newly captivated by the man. Sometimes he even felt a fluttering, churning sensation inside his chest.
But it was still manageable. For now, it was just like being possessed by the ghost of a child who barely reached his waist. The problem would be if that ghost grew.
Jin-ha intended to prevent the man from doing anything reckless before that could happen.
“How about this instead?”
Jin-ha asked while gently stroking the man’s hair.
The answer was obvious without hearing it. As Jin-ha slipped his fingers through the man’s hair and stroked it softly, the man’s gaze became hazy and the corners of his eyes grew moist.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
