The moment Han Ju-oh burst through the door, both men turned to look at him.
“Oh? Ju-oh. What’s up?”
Baek Seo-ha, still smiling with his eyes crinkled, turned around to ask. Ian gave a casual wave, as if he’d been expecting this.
“Why are you here?”
Seo-ha tilted his head, confused by the question.
“What do you mean, why? This is my guiding room—Aagh!”
Han Ju-oh marched inside and yanked Seo-ha’s chair backward.
Seo-ha, seated in a wheeled chair, shot backward without resistance. He instinctively threw his arms forward, but no one caught him. The chair only stopped when it slammed into the wall.
“……”
Seo-ha let out a dry, incredulous laugh as he processed what just happened. So the question wasn’t even directed at him? Fine, but was dragging the chair back really necessary?
“Um…”
He tried calling out to the two men, but got no response. Their gazes were locked in a kind of smoldering intensity. It was… passionate, even. Like two people reuniting after a complicated breakup. Seo-ha closed his mouth, lips twitching into a small pout.
“I said we’d see each other again.”
Ian finally spoke, his voice laced with a playful edge clearly meant to provoke Han Ju-oh.
“Weren’t you supposed to have left already?”
“I’ll leave in a few days. Not like anyone’s going to come looking for me anyway.”
“Stray cat abandoned by his guild, huh.”
“Then you take me in. You’d make a decent housemate.”
“Who said I’m picking you up?”
Ian’s unbothered ease clashed directly with the obvious irritation radiating off Han Ju-oh. The tension between them thickened like a storm about to break.
Still seated in his chair, Seo-ha slowly inched forward, trying to sneak into the conversation—but hesitated.
‘They’re supposed to be friends, so why does it feel like this?’
Shouldn’t they be smiling, asking things like “How’ve you been?” or “You look good”? That’s normal, right?
But the undercurrent of tension made it nearly impossible to butt in.
‘I’m leaving.’
Once he made up his mind, he put it into action. He swiveled the chair around and began scooting away using just his heels—
And suddenly, his feet lifted off the ground.
“Huh?”
The reason became obvious fast. The chair was floating. Seo-ha glared sharply at the only person who could’ve done something like this.
“Are you seriously wasting energy when we’re already running low?”
“Just making sure you don’t run off.”
Han Ju-oh turned just enough to meet his eyes—his gaze resolute, clearly refusing to let him go. Seo-ha averted his eyes first.
“I just thought the two of you should catch up.”
Seo-ha muttered his excuse. Only then did Han Ju-oh lower the chair—placing it right next to him for good measure.
“This is my guiding room, so I’ll stay too.”
He’d obviously been trying to leave earlier, but now he was pretending to be the host. Ian chuckled, clearly amused by Seo-ha’s shameless turnabout.
“So, you two are really friends?”
Embarrassed, Seo-ha echoed the same question. His attempt to deflect the mood was transparent, and Ian burst out laughing again.
***
“The reason I started learning Korean is really simple.”
As Ian paused to take a sip of his coffee, Seo-ha instinctively leaned forward.
“Because I wanted to be part of the conversations between Ju-oh and Mi-yeon.”
“You mean, you wanted to get closer to them?”
When Seo-ha added the follow-up, Ian gave a soft smile that suited him perfectly.
“Language is a kind of magic—it smooths the distance between people.”
“Wow…”
‘That’s kind of cheesy. Weirdly charming.’
Even though they were speaking the same language, something about it felt surreal. A strange dissonance crawled in.
“S-So then?”
Still, the conversation was interesting enough that Seo-ha urged him to keep going.
“Before we could really communicate, Ju-oh seemed cold. But once I started understanding what he was saying, I realized how warm he actually is.”
Seo-ha stared at Ian’s face.
He couldn’t shake the strange feeling that someone was dubbing a voice over his lips, like a movie out of sync. Then something caught his ear—almost too late.
“Ju-oh is… warm?”
Ian nodded. Seo-ha turned his head toward Han Ju-oh.
Silently drinking his coffee, Ju-oh gave off a heavy, brooding energy—and said nothing.
Seo-ha still had no clue what had gotten under his skin this time.
“Ju-oh being the warm type with his friends… huh.”
Seo-ha said it like he’d just heard the most ridiculous thing in the world, and Han Ju-oh’s gaze turned sharp. The look in his eyes screamed, So what if you don’t believe Ian?—to which Seo-ha silently replied with his own stare: Yeah, so what?
“He’s not the kind of guy who’s nice just because someone’s his friend.”
Seo-ha cut straight through without hesitation. Ju-oh didn’t react at all— but Ian looked genuinely confused.
“But you know that better than anyone, don’t you?”
The question wasn’t casual. It implied: even if no one else sees it, surely you know what he’s like.
Seo-ha shook his head, firm and final.
“Nope.”
The bluntness made Ian visibly falter.
“You don’t…? But you two don’t seem like just partners.”
“Oh, Ju-oh does act all heated with me, sure, but…”
Feeling the need to elaborate, Seo-ha added,
“That kind of heat’s normal when you’re dating.”
Ian’s eyes flicked rapidly between them. The scowl on Ju-oh’s face had melted away completely, replaced by something dangerously close to gooey.
Seo-ha gave his shoulder a brisk tap.
“Sit up straight. Don’t go all limp on me.”
Seeing Ju-oh actually smile—a rare sight—Seo-ha didn’t bother to hide his annoyance. So all that fuss earlier, and this was all it took to melt him?
“Now I get it.”
Ian’s voice drew Seo-ha’s attention again. He leaned in without anyone noticing, interest gleaming in his eyes.
“When I first heard Ju-oh had a partner, I was surprised. I figured there had to be some reason. But if it’s a romantic relationship, it all makes sense now.”
“That’s not… exactly how it happened.”
They hadn’t started dating and then partnered up, so Seo-ha trailed off, sneaking a glance at Ju-oh. If he explained, he’d have to bring up Ju-oh’s secret. Even though Ian was a friend, there was no guarantee he knew.
As Seo-ha hesitated, Ju-oh gave a subtle shake of his head.
“Yeah. That’s how it is.”
Seo-ha caught the message and wrapped things up with a shrug.
“Congrats. You two actually look good together.”
Ian clapped softly, then stood from his seat. Just as Seo-ha wondered if the conversation was winding down, Ian turned back with a questioning look.
“What are you two doing?”
“Huh?”
“We should be having a party.”
As in—go out and celebrate?
***
It wasn’t even the end of the workday yet, but with Guild Leader Kim Mi-yeon’s permission, they came to Han Ju-oh’s place. And not just that—they’d brought Ian along, and now a small stockpile of alcohol sat on the table.
Suddenly, Seo-ha was hit with doubt.
“Wasn’t I literally just stressing out a few hours ago…?”
He glanced at the dried ink still smeared on his hand from scribbling in his notebook. But after meeting Ju-oh’s friend and having a brief chat, here he was, holding a bottle.
“No party’s complete without drinks. Right, Ju-oh?”
“Not really.”
“No? Come on, let’s celebrate. I came all the way to Korea to see you, and I even got to meet your partner. That’s a win.”
“Don’t get too close to Seo-ha.”
“Ju-oh, are you seriously jealous right now?”
“Leave.”
Their back-and-forth was so fast and sharp that Seo-ha, still quietly observing, finally picked up his phone.
“This is the first time I’ve ever missed a friend this badly.”
Since Ju-oh had his friend over, why not invite one of his own? He tapped a familiar number.
“You asleep?”
—Are you out of your mind? Do you even know what time it is?
“If you’re not asleep, want to come over? I’ll wait.”
—You sound like a clingy ex. Disgusting.
Seo-ha had only said aloud what he’d been thinking while watching Ian and Ju-oh. Moon Roi’s revulsion came through crystal clear, even over the phone.
“Now that’s what a real friend sounds like.”
He and Moon Roi were the normal ones. Ian and Ju-oh? Definitely not.
As Seo-ha set his phone down, he noticed an odd silence. He looked up and found both men staring at him.
“I can bring a friend too, right?”
Technically, he’d already invited him before asking—but Ian gave an easy nod.
Until Moon Roi arrived, most of the conversation was between Seo-ha and Ian. They mostly shared stories from dungeon runs he’d done with Ju-oh.
Ju-oh kept grumbling that it was all irrelevant, but to Seo-ha, it felt perfectly relevant.
‘So they really were a good match in battle.’
One controlled wind and fire. The other, lightning. In a way, it was almost a shame Ju-oh didn’t have water-based powers— imagine combining water and electricity against a monster. The damage potential would be unreal.
Still, fire wasn’t a bad pairing either.
Maybe because both of their powers were destructive, they had to be precise— constantly aware of each other’s positioning. Otherwise, a slip could send fire and lightning clashing. That shared danger only made their coordination sharper.
Maybe that’s how Ian had come to like Ju-oh— genuine admiration built through observation.
‘This is why people need to talk.’
You learn about their pasts. Their instincts. Their battle style. So much came through in a single conversation.
The smile on Seo-ha’s lips slowly curled into something far more mischievous.
