#136
“No!”
Shin Haejun shouted hurriedly, covering his finger. He seemed scared I might take back what I had given.
‘I’m not going to take it back…’
I shook my head and pulled Shin Haejun’s hand. He seemed anxious and tried to avoid my hand, but when I kept grabbing, he reluctantly gave in.
Perhaps due to his fieldwork, the white ring fit well on his slightly rough and long fingers, which weren’t as smooth as I had expected.
“Doesn’t the pink diamond bother you?”
“No, not at all!”
Shin Haejun denied it quickly. This time, I took Hyun Dowoon’s hand to look at it. Unlike Shin Haejun, the ring looked beautiful on his long, smooth hands. I looked at both hands alternately and chuckled.
“I wish it was a better design… but among the ones I could make, this was the only one that wouldn’t look awkward if I wore two on my hand…”
“Wait, you made these yourself?”
Hyun Dowoon asked in surprise, turning the ring this way and that. Well, even I thought the quality was good, so it’s understandable he was surprised, but I couldn’t explain that I made them in a game, so I just laughed.
“It really is… a couple ring.”
Shin Haejun murmured softly, looking at the two rings on my hand. Then his face turned bright red.
“Take responsibility.”
“…Huh?”
“When should we have the wedding?”
I opened my eyes wide, wondering what he was saying, and Shin Haejun said with the most serious face:
“I’ll prepare everything – the wedding ceremony, the dowry, and the house.”
I blinked at the sudden words, pondering for a moment, then suddenly realized and gaped.
“Wedding ceremony?”
“You proposed, didn’t you?”
“It’s just a… couple ring?”
I shouted in surprise, and from behind, Hyun Dowoon wrapped his arms around me and whispered:
“I was so happy when you asked me to marry you…”
“No, not you too, Dowoon-ssi. You know why I gave them to you!”
“Why did you give them to us?”
“Uh…”
You know why! They must both be teasing me. As I pouted and sulked, Hyun Dowoon kissed my nape repeatedly and asked again.
“I don’t know unless you tell me. Why did you give them to us?”
I thought they were just teasing me, but they both looked serious.
Certainly, I hadn’t really expressed my feelings first until now… Thinking about how happy they were yesterday just because I actively booked the hotel, maybe they weren’t just doing this…
“Be-because I like you.”
I said in a tiny voice, as if I wanted to crawl into a hole. Both of their eyes widened.
“It’s true…”
Shin Haejun muttered in a moved voice, tightly gripping his ringed hand.
Thinking about how anxious they must have been while I wasn’t expressing my feelings, I felt a lump in my throat. Seeing them so happy over a single ring was cute and lovable.
“Let’s have a grand wedding ceremony after all. So everyone can know about our love.”
Hyun Dowoon whispered in a very serious voice. Like Shin Haejun, he was constantly rubbing his ring. It didn’t seem like a conscious action.
If they want it that much… should I stop them?
“If… we do it… as small as possible…”
When I whispered softly, Hyun Dowoon and Shin Haejun froze for a moment, then burst into laughter.
“Ha, hahahahaha! We really have to do it now!”
“Since Jaeha-ssi wants it so much, we can’t refuse.”
…They were teasing me!
I trembled with anger and hid my head under the blanket. I won’t let this slide! No matter how much they beg, I won’t look at them!
However, the two didn’t try to coax me. Far from begging, they were so quiet that my anger, which had flared up, awkwardly subsided. Wondering what was going on, I peeked out just my eyes from under the blanket and saw the two of them continuously staring at their rings with very pleased expressions.
‘Seeing them so happy makes me feel… a bit proud.’
I had chosen them on a whim when they mentioned couple items, but the two looked so relaxed as if they had received a great token of love. Seeing that, I felt embarrassed as if I had really proposed… and my anger melted away as if it had never existed.
‘It’s amazing to have our hearts connected like this.’
I felt a warm sensation throughout my body. I glanced around sneakily, then climbed on top of Shin Haejun. As if reading my mind, Shin Haejun pulled my upper body to kiss me, but suddenly grabbed my hand again.
“Ah…!”
My right ring finger stung a bit. There was a slight red mark in the shape of Shin Haejun’s teeth.
“I’ll fill this too.”
This time, Shin Haejun grinned, saying he would prepare the ring himself. At the same time, as if sharing the same thought, Hyun Dowoon bit the same spot over Shin Haejun’s mark.
Understanding deeply why the two were so happy about my rings, I pressed my lips against Shin Haejun’s once more.
***
Not only about the date, but the public was also enthusiastic about my dungeon conquest. They seemed surprised that a guide had really succeeded in conquering a dungeon alone.
Because of my work, research on constellations became more active, and among awakened ones abroad, more information about dungeon anomalies was shared. This was because the information about dungeon anomalies and my case were only shared with awakened ones and government officials.
I thought I could overcome the next dungeon anomaly well too, but Hyun Dowoon and Shin Haejun declared they would accompany me for a while, using the excuse that I had been slightly injured. I would have rejected that level of concern, but unexpectedly, the government side recommended that Hyun Dowoon and Shin Haejun enter together for my safety, so I had no choice but to go in with the two of them.
“Han Nari-ssi, are you okay? Are you too nervous?”
We were on a spaceship to move to find dungeon monsters, and Han Nari’s expression was stiff as she looked outside. From her perspective, she was conquering a dungeon with her top bosses, so it was understandable for her to be nervous.
“N-no, I’m fine!”
She’s completely nervous. Her usually machine-gun-like speech had drastically reduced. She even kept stealing glances at Hyun Dowoon. It was completely different from how she had squealed like meeting a star in front of Shin Haejun.
She was clearly interested, but seemed cautious. If possible, she probably would have kept observing from behind a wall.
‘Is this how it feels to meet a company CEO?’
If so, I could understand why it was scary. Anyway, it was true that it was much more comfortable to move around thanks to her becoming quiet. The video footage would surely be much better captured than during the last conquest when the sound wasn’t muted at all.
Although I felt sorry for Han Nari.
“By the way…”
Just as I thought it was comfortable, Han Nari fidgeted and shuffled her feet. She hesitated for so long that I was about to misunderstand that she needed to go to the bathroom, when she looked around carefully and asked in a cautious voice.
“Are the three of you dating?”
“What?”
“I’m sorry. I’ve been so curious…”
“…Is it obvious?”
I asked in a small voice too. She nodded.
“Even if I don’t want to see it… Shin Haejun-nim and the Center Director are too…”
Following her gaze, I saw Shin Haejun awkwardly holding the controls with his hand positioned as if showing off his ring. Hyun Dowoon, sitting next to him, also had his hand on the armrest, tapping it at a regular rhythm to draw attention to his fingers.
It didn’t seem like a conscious action… It looked like they were doing it unconsciously out of pride.
“At first, I was so surprised thinking the two of them were dating… but then I noticed that Jaeha Guide-nim was also involved…”
“Ahahahaha!”
I found it hilarious imagining Han Nari being shocked thinking Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon were dating. When I glanced towards the two, I saw them quickly turning their heads, probably having heard our conversation with their S-class hearing.
The two glared at each other with fiery eyes.
To think she thought they were dating when they dislike each other enough to glare like that. I couldn’t stop laughing.
As I burst into laughter and couldn’t stop, even holding my stomach, Han Nari looked at me with a troubled face.
“Wait, what… Whoa!”
As I continued laughing loudly, Shin Haejun got up from his seat, irritated. Then he must have touched something wrong because the spaceship suddenly started falling downwards. It seemed he had accidentally touched the anti-gravity function.
“Wait! We need to press the button again… Ah!”
The spaceship shook violently. I tried to quickly tell Shin Haejun, but the big shake almost made me fall sideways.
Startled, I looked forward and saw a huge hole in the ground surface like a sinkhole. I couldn’t tell what was below it, sometimes appearing dark and sometimes something bright shining.
As the spaceship shook violently, Hyun Dowoon quickly stood up and reached out to me. His expression looked very urgent.
“Jaeha-ssi!”
He ran towards me. It seemed he was trying to support me so I wouldn’t fall. But I needed to run first and turn on the function.
And I should help Han Nari too, I thought, and simultaneously, something flashed through my mind like lightning, making my chest tight with pain. I felt like I had experienced a situation like this before…
The feeling of falling rapidly while tightly entangled with someone…
‘What is this feeling of despair…?’
Suddenly, my heart ached terribly. A feeling of frustration so intense I wanted to die instantly consumed my body. To the point where I didn’t know why I was suddenly feeling this way.
I needed to restore the function to normal operation right now.
However, cradled in Hyun Dowoon’s arms, I fainted while feeling an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
