Seo-ha slept like a rock. All that worrying about waking up repeatedly had been for nothing—he got a solid night’s rest.
Sitting up in bed with just his upper body raised, Seo-ha glanced at his reflection in his phone screen. One side of his hair was sticking up like it had a vendetta against gravity, which said enough about how long he must’ve stayed in the same position.
Well, not that his hair was the only clue.
“You okay?”
Han Ju-oh was next to him, bending and straightening his arm, and Seo-ha asked as he watched.
“I still can’t feel anything.”
Han Ju-oh stared down at his arm with a serious expression. His well-developed arm muscles bulged with every flex and extension—biceps, triceps, all of it.
“Just give it a bit. The feeling will come back on its own.”
It’s not like he’d lost all sensation forever or anything, so Seo-ha answered casually—but Han Ju-oh shot him a sour glare.
“Do you not feel even a little guilty about this?”
“It’s not like I can control how heavy my head is. You had your arm stretched out, so I just happened to lie on it.”
No matter how small Seo-ha’s head might be, it still had some weight. Ju-oh hadn’t considered that when he made himself a human pillow, so Seo-ha pushed back with that logic.
Han Ju-oh looked incredulous—but it didn’t last long. He hadn’t known Baek Seo-ha for just a day or two. At times like this, it was better to just say what he wanted.
“Feed me.”
Ju-oh bent and straightened his arm again, giving a curt nod as if demanding breakfast. Seo-ha, seeing that bone-dry response, muttered under his breath.
“What a… wholesome morning.”
“……”
When Han Ju-oh turned toward him, Seo-ha gave a sleepy, dazed smile.
“Right, Ju-oh?”
He raised a hand and gave a soft wave. You’d expect it to make some kind of sound, but the watch clung firmly to his wrist. Still, it was enough of a signal.
“Time to guide you.”
Seo-ha’s eyes took on a sultry glint.
“Or maybe… it’s just that your lover’s eyes happened to flutter open in bed…”
Excuses could be invented all day, but in the end, there was only one reason. Han Ju-oh leaned in and kissed Seo-ha, quickly moving on top of him.
Lying back with their lips still locked, Seo-ha let out a low laugh that vibrated in his throat.
Ju-oh broke the kiss and looked down at Seo-ha, who raised a hand and grabbed his forearm.
“Looks like this is back to normal.”
The arm that had supposedly lost all feeling from supporting Seo-ha’s head. From the start, it had been a trap—Seo-ha had never believed him.
Now visibly more relaxed, Seo-ha let his gaze slowly sweep over Ju-oh’s face and everything below.
“What could it be, I wonder? What made our dear Ju-oh so eager for a morning workout?”
The words spilled from Seo-ha like a teasing song. His tone was obviously playful, and Han Ju-oh finally gave in to the desire he’d been trying to hold back.
“You.”
Seo-ha burst into laughter at the quick reply. The effort Ju-oh had made to suppress his arousal after waking up next to him in the same bed was kind of endearing. Seo-ha slipped his hand under Ju-oh’s shirt, gently stroking along his stomach.
“You’ve been working hard down here too.”
His fingers traced the defined grooves between Ju-oh’s abs. Ju-oh’s breath began to hitch. It wasn’t just the touch—Seo-ha’s energy was already seeping into him, heating him up from the inside out.
Despite the way he was clearly teasing Ju-oh to the edge, Seo-ha’s face abruptly turned serious.
“Let’s first see how far we can go without having sex.”
That was the reason they hadn’t left the bed yet.
They hadn’t managed to sync up yesterday for various reasons, so today, they were going to do it properly.
“But before that, there’s something I want to say.”
Han Ju-oh grabbed Seo-ha’s wrist.
They were already touching, so he could’ve initiated guiding at any moment, but Seo-ha didn’t force it.
“Something to say?”
“You know there won’t be any other Guide for me, right?”
“Huh?”
Seo-ha looked genuinely surprised. He’d been so focused on his compatibility scores that the thought hadn’t even crossed his mind.
Ju-oh had never wanted another Guide to begin with. Seo-ha had figured as much, but hearing him say it aloud filled him with a strange tension.
For the first time, the weight of Ju-oh’s decision sank in. Seo-ha began guiding seriously.
He counted silently in his head, using his energy as a baseline. Hoping for a higher result would only distract him.
‘One, two, three…’
The smooth, high-purity energy flowed steadily, clearing away the toxins in Ju-oh’s body and purifying him from within.
Seo-ha fell into a near trance—but unfortunately, the guiding session ended all too soon.
It stopped cleanly, regardless of his own desire to go just a little further.
Seo-ha pulled his hand away, not even realizing he’d had his eyes closed from concentrating so hard. Even before checking the watch, he could already guess roughly what the result would be.
“This is just…”
A bitter smile tugged at his lips.
“I should be happy, but all I feel is disappointment.”
He wouldn’t deny it if someone called it greed. Because it was greed.
As Seo-ha sat up, Han Ju-oh shifted to the side, making space for him. Seo-ha didn’t hesitate and pushed himself up.
Then, he raised his wrist with the watch. 33%. It had passed 30%, but expecting it to reach 40% would’ve been too much. Still, the consistent physical contact had helped raise the matching rate, and that effort hadn’t been meaningless. But…
“When we’re actually inside a dungeon, who knows what might happen—so this isn’t satisfying.”
The fact that their score could go up with sex was a relief, but thinking about the S-rank Gate they’d be entering together made the current guiding output feel insufficient.
Seo-ha forced himself to wipe the frustration off his face and faked a smile.
“Sorry. I should be happy, but I just can’t.”
It was a matching rate ten times higher than before. The fact that he’d even agreed to guide first thing in the morning showed how different things had become. He’d done it partly because he was looking forward to it—because he thought it would feel good.
But what he actually felt was unease.
Because Han Ju-oh had said he would rely entirely on him.
Still, Seo-ha didn’t resent him for it.
All Ju-oh had done was acknowledge the current situation. There was no need to ask him why.
“Don’t take on so much pressure.”
Han Ju-oh pressed his lips firmly against Seo-ha’s forehead.
“I’m entrusting everything to you.”
“Why do you keep putting pressure on me?”
“So you’ll try harder.”
“I will try harder.”
Seo-ha muttered curtly and slapped Ju-oh’s shoulder. He didn’t resent him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be annoyed.
“Now, let’s move on to the next step.”
Han Ju-oh grabbed Seo-ha’s arm again and pulled him into his embrace.
He’d already checked the rate via contact guiding, and now it was obvious he was trying to transition to penetrative guiding.
“Yeah. Let’s do it all. No point in moping around.”
“Good thinking.”
Han Ju-oh swiftly pulled off Seo-ha’s clothes.
***
Each time Han Ju-oh thrust into him, Seo-ha’s body inched upward. He raised one hand to grip the headboard. At this rate, he was going to hit his head—Ju-oh was thrusting with that much force.
“Ju-oh.”
Seo-ha tapped Ju-oh’s shoulder. Just a moment, just a glance—he wasn’t even able to meet his eyes.
“Look at me… please.”
The words were interrupted by a sudden deep thrust that made him flinch and stumble over his sentence.
“You… that’s low.”
Overwhelmed by the constant trembling that wracked his body, Seo-ha tried to glare up at Ju-oh. But then another powerful wave of pleasure crashed through him, and his head fell back involuntarily.
Without warning, Ju-oh hit his spot dead-on. Seo-ha’s back arched like a bow, and a hoarse, scraped sound tore from his throat.
Sunlight slipped through the blackout curtains and lit up the most irrelevant corners of the room, yet Seo-ha swore it was shining directly into his eyes.
In truth, it was just the sharp jolt of pleasure running down his spine that felt blinding—like being bathed in morning light.
After all the friction and heat, the head of his cock leaked hot fluid onto Ju-oh’s stomach. The simultaneous orgasm meant they had climaxed together.
Once the suffocating moment passed and only the afterglow remained, Seo-ha noticed the pillow under his head and let out a quiet laugh.
When he’d called out to Ju-oh earlier, there’d been no response—but of course, Ju-oh had known exactly what was happening.
“Seriously…”
‘If you were all sweetness, you wouldn’t be Han Ju-oh,’ he was about to say—when his eyes landed on the watch. 65%.
The exact number he’d seen before. No rise, no drop.
Same as yesterday, after a single session of penetrative guiding. And now, even after just one more time, the number already felt familiar. Which meant…
“We’re not stopping here, are we?”
They’d already reached the final level of physical intimacy.
If someone asked whether the current score wasn’t already high enough, he wouldn’t be able to argue—but now that he’d admitted his greed had no end, it didn’t feel purely satisfying.
And that’s when it happened.
As if he’d read Seo-ha’s thoughts, Han Ju-oh met his eyes.
He hadn’t looked when Seo-ha had called him earlier, but now…
“Let’s try one more time.”
“Huh? Oh…”
Right. They’d only checked the matching rate after a single round.
“Han Ju-oh… you’re smart.”
Seo-ha lit up like he’d just discovered a new possibility, and Han Ju-oh looked away, unable to meet his gaze.
