Seung-hyeon rose up as he spoke. If Seon-woo had tried to hold him down, they could’ve gone back and forth in a meaningless struggle for quite some time. But Seon-woo let himself be pushed down without resistance. As a result, their positions flipped. This time, it was Seon-woo who ended up lying on the marble dining table. The cold, hard surface pressed sharply against his back. It was obvious it would leave his back sore.
Still, Seon-woo said nothing, and Seung-hyeon asked, “Why aren’t you saying anything? You’re clearly uncomfortable.”
Yet he hadn’t said a word himself when he’d been pushed onto the table earlier.
“Who said something like this would make me uncomfortable?”
With a short laugh, Seon-woo brushed off the concern. Seung-hyeon no longer bothered with considerate words, instead bowing his head in silence. After a brief kiss, he pulled away, and Seon-woo smiled with a deliberately relaxed look.
“If you’re going, you’d better get moving.”
Seung-hyeon might’ve expected those words to be followed by “So let’s stop now,” but Seon-woo’s response was nothing of the sort. He gently wrapped both arms around Seung-hyeon’s neck and added softly,
“Hurry up and do it.”
Truthfully, he’d known from the start—those words wouldn’t go as planned. That “just once” they started with on the dining table? Of course it didn’t end with just once.
First, they moved to the bed. Then they said they’d wash up and leave right after—but things got derailed again in the bathroom. Eventually, half-resigned, they returned to the bedroom, and by the time they came to their senses, it was already the middle of the night…
“Are you really going to head out right away? Seriously?”
He hadn’t gotten a proper night’s sleep. Seung-hyeon had kept playing with his hands next to Seon-woo as he tried to rest, so even when Seon-woo did doze off, he kept waking up, never fully drifting into sleep.
And yet, as soon as morning broke, Seon-woo opened his eyes like a ghost. Even before Seung-hyeon could say anything to stop him, Seon-woo had washed up, dried his hair, and immediately started getting dressed. Watching him, Seung-hyeon seemed a bit flustered. But Seon-woo, unfazed, calmly buttoned up his shirt right next to him.
“It’s a short vacation. If we want it to feel like a trip, we’ve got to hurry. We already wasted a whole day.”
Seon-woo’s tone was cool and matter-of-fact. Still, Seung-hyeon seemed to be hesitating, unable to move as if something was still nagging at him. Seeing that, Seon-woo tilted his head slightly and gave him a crooked smile. The kind of look that screamed he was about to make a joke.
“What, are you worn out? Can’t make the trip?”
“It’s not that.”
Only then did Seung-hyeon finally let out a short, awkward chuckle, as if a strange tension had finally eased. Seon-woo gestured with his eyes toward the corner of the living room, where a suitcase sat.
“You already packed everything anyway.”
“……Yeah. I’m just worried it might be too much… Things didn’t go the way we planned.”
“We’re going by car. Who cares? Bring it.”
Though his face still held a faintly sheepish expression, Seung-hyeon didn’t resist. Watching him quietly get dressed and follow along after Seon-woo made Seon-woo smile without meaning to. Seung-hyeon was the type who rarely lost his composure and always seemed like he wouldn’t be swayed by others’ words.Â
There were hardly ever moments when Seung-hyeon didn’t carry himself that way. Getting swept up and moving on impulse like this—he only ever showed that side of himself in front of Seon-woo.
Whether he noticed the quietly satisfied smile on Seon-woo’s lips or not, Seung-hyeon was quick to finish getting ready. Neither of them was the type to spend much time fussing over appearances. To outsiders, it might have looked like they were overly confident or just didn’t care enough. But Seon-woo thought Seung-hyeon wasn’t indifferent to how he looked—he simply had good taste and knew how to pull off a sharp look with minimal effort.
Still, Seung-hyeon was now staring down at the suitcase with a look that practically screamed, Isn’t this a bit much to be taking with us? And it was true—the suitcase was definitely on the bigger side. But that didn’t mean he was going to take back what he said. While Seung-hyeon hesitated, Seon-woo stepped in, snatched up the suitcase, and started heading for the front door.
Caught off guard, Seung-hyeon rushed to catch up and tried to take it back. Seon-woo held on for a moment like he wasn’t going to let go. But when Seung-hyeon looked at him with eyes full of earnest determination and kept reaching for it,
Seriously, what even is this…
With a short, helpless laugh, Seon-woo finally relaxed his grip.
Carrying the luggage down with a triumphant look, Seung-hyeon reached the car in the parking lot and—almost too naturally—opened the passenger door for Seon-woo. Seon-woo slipped into the seat without a word, as if this kind of treatment was nothing new.
But Seung-hyeon wasn’t done. As soon as he sat in the driver’s seat, he turned on the seat warmer for Seon-woo, adjusted the backrest to a comfortable angle, and even buckled his seatbelt for him.
Watching everything he did in silence, Seon-woo couldn’t help but chuckle. He felt like someone who couldn’t do a single thing on his own. And honestly, that wasn’t too far from the way he was being treated.
“Try to get some sleep.”
It was hard to tell if this was devotion or if he was just being babied. But being handled like a child by Seung-hyeon didn’t really bother him. It wasn’t unpleasant enough to resist.
Still, just because Seung-hyeon was doting on him didn’t mean Seon-woo wanted to sleep while he drove alone. He had every intention of staying awake somehow—but that was easier said than done. He’d been running on minimal sleep for the past few days because of work, and last night hadn’t exactly helped.
Seung-hyeon probably knew that, too—that’s why he immediately started warming up Seon-woo’s back and tried to lull him to sleep.
“Just… say something. Anything. I don’t care what it is.”
Instead of boldly declaring, I’m not going to sleep, Seon-woo settled on that. He already knew if he claimed he wouldn’t sleep, they’d end up in a pointless back-and-forth:
“Don’t sleep.”
“I won’t.”
“You’re still gonna fall asleep.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Yes, you will.”
Better to avoid that whole song and dance altogether.
The sudden request seemed to throw Seung-hyeon off for a moment. But he responded without complaint.
“Back when I was in school…”
The seat was warm, the position was cozy, and Seung-hyeon’s voice was soft and soothing—there was no way Seon-woo could keep his eyes open through that. In the end, he couldn’t resist and let his heavy eyelids fall shut.
He barely caught any of the story about Seung-hyeon’s school days.
When he opened his eyes again, the car had already come to a stop.
It felt like he’d just woken from the sweetest sleep. Seon-woo sat up in a hurry. When he turned to the side, he saw Seung-hyeon absorbed in something on his phone. Whatever it was, he was looking at it with serious focus.
He had a rather serious expression on his face. When Seon-woo turned his head the other way, he saw rows of cars lined up outside the window. They were clearly parked—looked like they were in a parking lot.
He had no idea where they were. He’d fallen asleep before he could even ask. And since Seung-hyeon was completely absorbed in whatever he was looking at on his phone, Seon-woo didn’t feel like interrupting him just to ask where they were. Instead of announcing that he was awake or bluntly asking about their location, he quietly looked around for clues.
When he peered more closely out the window, he finally figured out where they were.
Bulguksa?
…Huh?
Seon-woo blinked in surprise. The name felt bizarrely out of place. As he tilted his head instinctively in confusion, Seung-hyeon—finally noticing that Seon-woo was awake—turned and asked,
“You’re up?”
No matter how he looked at it, this was a wildly unexpected location. Seon-woo mumbled a reply, still half in disbelief and unsure if he was fully awake.
“Uh… You should’ve woken me up when we got here. I have no idea how long I’ve been asleep.”
So this was the place Seung-hyeon had in mind for them to visit—Gyeongju. The most prominent thought in Seon-woo’s head was simply: Why?
A school field trip spot…?
The plan had originally been to go see a play in Chicago, and now somehow that had turned into a trip to Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju? The direction of this whole vacation had taken such a hard left turn. Not that it was a bad thing—he would’ve happily followed Seung-hyeon anywhere regardless. Gyeongju was no exception. But the sheer randomness of it made him want to laugh.
“Did you miss your school trips or something?”
Seon-woo muttered the question like a joke. Seung-hyeon didn’t bother with a real answer and just gave him a faint smile. That was enough for Seon-woo to drop the subject.
Inside the temple grounds, there were surprisingly many people. It wasn’t even the weekend, and yet the place was packed. As he glanced around, it became clear why the crowd felt especially dense—there were groups of children on a field trip.
Judging by their young faces and the lack of matching school uniforms, they looked like elementary school kids. Seon-woo eyed them with a touch of concern.
Ever since he ended up in Gwanggong’s body, one of the biggest changes Seon-woo experienced was how often people seemed to fear him. Even when he wore a neutral expression, people said he looked intense. If he furrowed his brow even slightly from fatigue, they assumed he was furious. Just today alone, he’d managed to freeze multiple people in a meeting with a single look—so that said it all.
Seon-woo didn’t particularly enjoy being misunderstood like that, so he generally made an effort not to come off as intimidating. On days like today, when his expression slipped due to unexpected circumstances, it was rare. But otherwise, he made a point of keeping his face in check.
Right now, however, his slightly furrowed brows—creased in faint confusion—probably looked threatening again to others. But maybe because they were so young? The groups of elementary schoolers didn’t seem scared of him at all. In fact, they barely paid attention to either of them.
And really, that was for the best. With a full day of sightseeing ahead, the last thing they needed was to be mobbed by curious kids. That might’ve been enough to wear him out and make him collapse on the spot.
