#039
“Please show me your watch.”
Eunseok said, extending his hand. Choi Hanseo, reclining deeply on the sofa, obediently held out his wrist.
Pushing up the sleeve slightly covering the watch, an orange color came into view.
“Why did this number suddenly spike like this?”
Eunseok asked Choi Hanseo with reproachful eyes. He had glimpsed that it wasn’t this number until yesterday evening.
“Ah, there was a bit of an incident in the early morning.”
“You didn’t deliberately create that incident, did you?”
At Eunseok’s probing, Choi Hanseo tilted his head slightly to the side and smirked.
“Why? Do you think I deliberately raised my numbers to receive intense Guiding?”
“Didn’t you?”
When Eunseok asked bluntly, Choi Hanseo slightly raised one eyebrow. He stared at Eunseok for a moment, then nodded.
“Well, I did take care of some business while raising my numbers, killing two birds with one stone.”
Eunseok frowned at Choi Hanseo’s frank admission.
“Are you always this brazen?”
“I’m brazen when I need to be.”
“…Never mind.”
Instead of pointlessly bickering with Choi Hanseo, Eunseok silently held out his hand. But instead of taking that hand, Choi Hanseo tapped his watch with his finger.
“This isn’t a number that can be resolved by hand.”
“Are you going to be like this?”
When Eunseok asked with irritated eyes, Choi Hanseo suddenly lifted the back of his suit jacket and pulled something out from his waist, holding it out. It was clearly identifiable just by looking at it. It was a dagger in a leather sheath.
“What’s this?”
Eunseok reflexively asked, scanning the dagger. Choi Hanseo held it out closer, as if urging him to take it, and said:
“It’s a gift. Or it could be a bribe.”
Eunseok stared at the dagger Choi Hanseo was offering for a moment, but finally unable to resist the desire, he took it.
The dagger handle, probably made from gate by-products, fit his hand perfectly as if coated with adhesive. When he pulled it out of the leather sheath, a pure white blade was revealed. The blade looked as if it was made of ivory. It was clearly no ordinary item just by looking at it.
“Be careful. It’s made from a poison dragon’s fang, so it would be a big problem if you get cut.”
Choi Hanseo warned.
“So the blade itself is poisonous?”
“Yes. It should be quite potent.”
Despite being told it was poisonous, Eunseok swung the dagger around in his hand. The weight and length fit his hand perfectly, just like the handle. With the added poison, it would be a great help when dealing with monsters.
His mood improved instantly, so pleased was he with it. Eunseok couldn’t take his eyes and hands off the dagger, even though he knew Choi Hanseo was staring at him.
“Do you like it?”
“…Yes.”
Eunseok barely suppressed the urge to immediately go and swing the dagger around.
“It seems like it would be incredibly expensive.”
A dagger made from a poison dragon’s fang. It was probably made by processing by-products from defeating an A-rank or S-rank boss monster. Although he wasn’t yet familiar with this market, even a rough estimate put it at hundreds of millions, if not billions of won.
“I figured it would take at least this much to seduce you, Mr. Lee Eunseok.”
“……”
At Choi Hanseo’s words, Eunseok put the dagger back in its leather sheath, as if coming out of a trance.
“Such an expensive gift…”
As Eunseok held the dagger back out, Choi Hanseo cut him off.
“I don’t have a habit of taking back gifts.”
“I don’t have a habit of being tempted by expensive gifts either.”
“Don’t you like it?”
“I do like it. I just don’t want to receive it as a gift.”
At Eunseok’s firm words, Choi Hanseo stared at the dagger held out in front of him. Eunseok thought they might start bickering again, but contrary to expectations, Choi Hanseo obediently took the dagger back.
“If you don’t want it, I guess I’ll have to give it to Hunter Shin Jeongho…”
Before Choi Hanseo could finish speaking, Eunseok snatched the dagger back. It was an almost instinctive action.
Choi Hanseo smiled with his eyes, as if he knew this would happen.
“Are you accepting it?”
“Don’t smile so annoyingly.”
Eunseok said sharply, inwardly lamenting his desire for weapons. The rationality telling him to return it and the desperate desire to keep it were engaged in a fierce tug-of-war in his mind.
“Just accept it. I specially ordered it with you in mind.”
In the end, desire won. Eunseok admitted that he couldn’t resist his craving for this dagger. The thought of it being given to Shin Jeongho was absolutely unbearable.
Eunseok fiddled with the dagger for a moment before turning his gaze to Choi Hanseo. Beating around the bush wasn’t his style.
“Are you doing this because you’re a hunter and I’m an S-class guide?”
It was a direct question asking if the expensive gift offensive and blatant expressions of seduction were due to a hunter’s desire for a guide. Of course, Choi Hanseo’s face showed he understood the meaning of the words.
“Is it wrong for a man to like a woman, especially a beautiful woman? If you’re asking if I’m trying to seduce you, Mr. Lee Eunseok, because I’m a hunter and you’re a guide, then yes, that’s correct. I’m a hunter, and I’m attracted to you, a guide. Is that wrong or bad? Do you think those feelings are incorrect?”
“……”
Eunseok couldn’t easily refute Choi Hanseo’s words.
It’s natural for a man to be attracted to a woman. It’s natural for a woman to be attracted to a man. From a biological standpoint, it would be natural for a hunter to be attracted to a guide. Could one really condemn that?
“…Since when?”
Instead of hastily criticizing Choi Hanseo’s intentions as impure, Eunseok asked.
“From the moment I first saw you.”
Choi Hanseo said assertively.
Eunseok recalled the moment he first saw Choi Hanseo. Choi Hanseo, whose eyes met his through the window after thwarting the kidnapping attempt. Choi Hanseo, standing on the wall, had smiled with curved eyes.
“You fell in love at first sight?”
When Eunseok asked skeptically, Choi Hanseo slowly reached out his hand. Eunseok didn’t push away the hand that approached as if asking for permission.
Choi Hanseo’s hand lightly brushed Eunseok’s cheek. A satisfied smile formed in Choi Hanseo’s eyes.
“I’ve always been attracted to strength rather than weakness. I went there after hearing you were a guide, but I fell for you when I saw you knocking down an esper. I could feel it without even checking the matching rate. That you were the perfect person for me. And as I watched you, I became even more certain. I am definitely attracted to you.”
Choi Hanseo’s confession was incredibly honest and explicit. Conveying one’s feelings to someone in words is not as easy as it might seem. Especially when it comes to this kind of emotion.
Eunseok was born with a personality that matched others’ intensity. If someone comes on strong, he responds strongly; if they’re gentle, he responds gently. Because of this, Eunseok couldn’t just brush off Choi Hanseo’s confession or gloss over the situation.
“I’m not asking for an immediate answer. I just want you to seriously consider me in that way from now on as you observe me. Of course, I’ll continue to make efforts to draw out those feelings from you, whether through gifts, bribes, or seduction.”
This kind of emotional head-on collision was a first. For the first time in his life, Eunseok found himself at a loss for what to say or how to react.
“May I kiss you?”
Choi Hanseo asked in a subtle voice, lowering his fingers that had been caressing Eunseok’s cheek to lightly trace his lips.
“Isn’t that why you deliberately raised your numbers and came here?”
“That’s right.”
Choi Hanseo, once again admitting it cleanly, leaned his upper body towards Eunseok. Eunseok neither avoided nor welcomed Choi Hanseo’s slowly approaching lips.
Eunseok searched for a reason to avoid Choi Hanseo’s lips. But the reasons to accept his kiss outweighed the reasons to avoid it. Guiding was Eunseok’s assigned duty, and no matter how difficult or arduous a task, Eunseok had never avoided it. So, avoiding this wouldn’t be right. Probably.
Choi Hanseo’s lips gently met Eunseok’s stiff ones. The sensation of the soft flesh and warm temperature made Eunseok’s body tense up. Choi Hanseo cupped the back of Eunseok’s head with his hand. Then he tilted his head slightly, overlapping their lips even more deeply. Eunseok, unable to bring himself to meet Choi Hanseo’s gaze, tightly closed his eyes.
But that wasn’t such a good choice. With his vision cut off, his other senses became even more sensitive. The subtle fragrance emanating from Choi Hanseo and the body scent melted into it stimulated his sense of smell, and the small noises of the leather sofa compressed under their bodies stimulated his hearing.
The sense of touch was no different. The softly rubbing lips pressed together were unbearably soft. Choi Hanseo’s breath touching his philtrum made Eunseok’s palms tingle for no reason.
With all his senses on high alert, Eunseok froze, unable to move. Perhaps interpreting this as permission, Choi Hanseo parted his overlapping lips and gently licked Eunseok’s lips with his tongue.
The wet sound of licking lips tickled his ears. Eunseok reflexively raised his hands to push Choi Hanseo away. But Choi Hanseo grabbed the hand pushing against his chest. Despite not having a single callus, his large hand was incredibly strong and firm. Eunseok tried to pull his hand away, but Choi Hanseo instead skillfully moved to intertwine their fingers.
“Mmph… stop…!”
The moment Eunseok finally opened his tightly closed eyes and spoke, separating his lips, the tongue that had been licking his lips invaded inside as if it had been waiting for this chance. Their lips sealed together without a gap, and the soft tongue captured Eunseok’s.
