#095
The power of S-class espers was known to have tremendous destructive capability, enough to overturn mountains.
Indeed, Shin Haejun’s power could cause destruction on par with natural disasters. However, using that much power also increased the possibility of residual energy tangling and going berserk.
While an erupting volcano could simply be blown away, continuously decomposing lava flowing like a river was not an easy task. Shin Haejun’s face turned red, and veins bulged on his neck. It was clearly not a good situation.
In times like these, Hyun Dowoon wasn’t much help either. If there were wounds, he could heal them, but now his ability had no effect.
Grrrr!
At least Hyun Dowoon’s summons were holding back the boss by spraying ice. The enraged boss twisted its body and sprayed lava, making the attack still difficult.
“Shin Haejun! The spine is the core!”
Suddenly, Hyun Dowoon’s words reached Shin Haejun’s ears as he was deeply focused. Shin Haejun, finally noticing where Hyun Dowoon’s summons had attacked, glared at the boss with a hardened expression. In the place cracked by the ice, a core was positioned like a long spine.
He immediately froze that area by radiating ice, then completely shattered it. The boss let out a final scream and fell. The lava, now completely black, seeped into the floor without any further movement.
“Whew, Jaeha…!”
As Shin Haejun turned around to check their safety, Jaeha jumped into his arms. After being embraced, Jaeha looked up with a worried face and put his hand on Shin Haejun’s neck.
“It’s all bulging…”
Jaeha bit his lip as he touched the protruding veins on Shin Haejun’s neck, then immediately started guiding through the touching skin. Thanks to this, just as Shin Haejun, feeling hot and dizzy, was about to naturally grab Jaeha’s waist, Jaeha slipped out of his arms, having slightly stabilized his condition.
Shin Haejun looked at Jaeha and Hyun Dowoon with a slight feeling of regret.
“Are you tired? Let’s break the dungeon core and get out,” Jaeha said.
As he said this, he checked Jaeha’s condition, which seemed somehow down. Wondering if he was worried, Shin Haejun thought they should quickly get out so Jaeha could rest.
But Jaeha shook his head. Then he stared at the dagger in his hand and swung it through the air.
“…What are you doing?”
Puzzled by Jaeha suddenly jabbing the air with his dagger, Shin Haejun asked. Jaeha answered with a serious face.
“That thing. We still have that experiment to do on you. I’ll try my best for now.”
“Jaeha, I know the conditions, so I can do it. You’ll hurt your hand that way,” Hyun Dowoon said.
“Ah, you did it together before? Then that would be more accurate,” Jaeha replied.
Shin Haejun looked blankly at Jaeha and Hyun Dowoon talking about things he didn’t understand. Regardless, the two were busy swinging their daggers in the air.
“What are you trying to do by stabbing the air with daggers?” Shin Haejun asked, unable to hold back any longer.
“This dagger can cut through space too, so it’s fine,” Jaeha replied very seriously, continuing to stab the air.
As Shin Haejun watched, he suddenly noticed cracks forming in the air and his eyes widened in surprise.
“Wha—!”
At that moment, he felt a shiver that resonated through his whole body, almost suffocating him. A sensation of seeing something that shouldn’t exist, something that shouldn’t be seen, a secret of this world, brushed past him.
“…Haejun, Haejun! Wake up!”
As if submerged in water, with his ears muffled, Shin Haejun swayed as Jaeha shook him and finally came to his senses. His vision flickered as if blinking. His mind alternated between being hazy and clear.
Eventually, as if a layer had been peeled away, he felt like something very important had passed through his body.
Shin Haejun looked around in bewilderment as he barely regained his senses. He could see Jaeha and Hyun Dowoon staring at him observantly.
“Why… how are you unaffected?”
He asked them with a face full of questions. He had experienced an indescribable feeling, but was surprised to see them so normal.
“We’ve already been through it. Now we just need to look at the laptop when we get out,” Hyun Dowoon said calmly.
Unlike Hyun Dowoon’s composure, Shin Haejun felt tense, clenching his fists, sensing that something was about to change drastically.
***
After returning home, the three of them quickly washed up and gathered in the living room.
As they started up the laptop on the table, Jaeha took Shin Haejun’s hand with a tense face.
“It’ll work this time,” Shin Haejun whispered, holding Jaeha’s hand to reassure him, as he seemed anxious. In fact, Shin Haejun himself was uncertain about what would happen, but he felt that calming the trembling Jaeha was the priority for now.
“Let’s check now,” Hyun Dowoon said.
Hyun Dowoon stared at Shin Haejun and Jaeha’s clasped hands for a moment, then opened the file on the laptop. It was the very file that had been driving Shin Haejun crazy until now.
[Chapter 1
Jaeha thought the customer in front of him was strange. A customer who came to the cafe where he worked every day at 2 PM. The handsome man, attractive enough to catch one’s eye, would order coffee, not take a single sip, sit looking at the counter for 15 minutes, then get up and leave.]
Reading up to this point, Shin Haejun felt a strange and peculiar sensation, but thought it was just a novel with Jaeha as the protagonist.
However, the more he read, the more his mind felt like it had been hit by something.
‘Why do I remember Jaeha’s mother’s… face?’
Jaeha was certainly an orphan. Yet he had a vague sense of déjà vu, as if he had seen Jaeha’s mother, who should have been just a character in a novel.
Then he recalled his childhood, bickering with Jaeha… and how he lost Jaeha to Hyun Dowoon because he realized his feelings too late. He even remembered regretting not catching Jaeha’s attention earlier.
It wasn’t just words on a page in a novel, but a world he had clearly experienced.
-This is a world inside a novel, and you are a character. That’s the world you’ve forgotten.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in his head. It was an ambiguous voice, neither female nor male, neither old nor young.
-You will lose him. If you don’t protect him.
This was undoubtedly the truth. Shin Haejun was certain. The sensation of breathing, walking, and seeing was proof that he was indeed a living person, but at the same time, he was convinced that he was also a character. Until now he hadn’t known, but now that he realized it, it came to him as an obvious fact, like the Earth being round.
As he became aware of everything and opened his eyes wide, he saw Jaeha looking at him with a worried face.
“Are you… okay?”
Vaguely, he always wanted to look good in front of Jaeha. He was always concerned about him. The reason he wanted to hold onto Jaeha so soon after meeting him might have been because he had lost him once before. This time too… he had lost him again due to his own mistake.
Shin Haejun looked at Jaeha with serious eyes. He was determined to do everything he could to not lose Jaeha. He had to eliminate all of Jaeha’s enemies. Even if it might bring terrible consequences to someone else.
“You didn’t lose consciousness even after seeing it… so you understand everything now, right?”
He nodded in response to Jaeha’s question. He never imagined that what he so desperately wanted to know would be something like this.
Jaeha’s enemy, who could create dungeons at will and was difficult to properly respond to. Shin Haejun’s gaze turned to Hyun Dowoon.
“The protagonists of this world are Shin Haejun and Kim Sehyun,” Hyun Dowoon said.
“I’m the protagonist? Hmm… Am I in a role opposing Kim Sehyun?”
Shin Haejun recalled Kim Sehyun’s face, unpleasant even to think about. No wonder he found him disagreeable every time he saw him. As Shin Haejun was thinking this, he felt like he’d been hit on the back of the head by Jaeha’s ambiguous expression and Hyun Dowoon’s explanation.
“What are you saying? You and Kim Sehyun fall in love.”
“What?”
For a moment, he exploded in shock, his skin crawling. It was something he had never imagined, and as he recoiled in horror, Jaeha smiled with a troubled face.
It would have been more believable if they had said they were enemies. But looking at Jaeha’s expression, he could tell it wasn’t a lie.
“The author is Jaeha’s enemy. Jaeha is the villain, you see. That’s why they want to eliminate him quickly.”
“How can hyung be the villain? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Shin Haejun muttered with a serious face. If anyone had acted like a villain, it was Kim Sehyun. Jaeha had only been pushed around by Kim Sehyun, so it was impossible to believe he was the villain.
In any case, if the real author was Jaeha’s enemy, the situation was far from ordinary. As long as the absolute being of this world was hostile to Jaeha, there was no telling what problems might arise besides dungeons.
If such a situation arose, what should he do? Shin Haejun pondered how to protect Jaeha.
“Give me some guiding,” he pleaded, as if whining, hiding his grim thoughts. He intended to change the subject before Jaeha could have any negative thoughts and become anxious. After all, it was natural to receive help from a guide after just finishing a battle.
“Ah, come to think of it, you worked hard earlier.”
The bulging veins had disappeared, but his body was still tangled up inside. Jaeha must have been keeping it in mind all along, as he readily took Shin Haejun’s hand.
“Jaeha,” Hyun Dowoon interrupted immediately. He smiled slightly and extended his own hand. Hyun Dowoon was also still feeling the aftermath of the battle.
“Uh…”
For a moment, Jaeha looked troubled, alternating between the two hands, unsure whose guiding to do first.
“I don’t suppose either of you is willing to… yes, I thought so… yield your turn to the other.”
He sighed and then grasped both hands. Then he exclaimed, “Guiding is only possible with one person at a time anyway. Now, watch!” and his eyes widened in surprise.
He was being guided by both Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon simultaneously.
“Uh… don’t look at me like tha— Aah!”
As his body, heated from battle, cooled down, sexual desire flared up like fire. Then Jaeha, pulled in both directions, screamed.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
