#087
“Why are you working in the dark without turning on the lights?”
“It doesn’t really matter to me.”
Choi Hanseo replied lightly as he put down his tablet on the table. Then he got up from the sofa and approached Eunseok.
“Come here.”
Choi Hanseo called, spreading his arms. It meant for Eunseok to come and be embraced.
“You didn’t actually think I’d come running into your arms, did you?”
Eunseok said with displeased eyes. Just imagining the scene of running into those arms and being embraced made his arms break out in goosebumps.
Choi Hanseo took another step closer and grabbed Eunseok’s forearm. Unable to win in terms of strength, Eunseok fell into Choi Hanseo’s arms. Long, strong arms wrapped tightly around Eunseok. Choi Hanseo buried his nose in Eunseok’s nape and took a deep breath.
“I must smell of sweat.”
Eunseok said grumpily. Honestly, he was concerned about smelling of sweat.
“You’re sexiest when you smell of sweat like this. When I smell this, it feels like we’re in the middle of intense sex.”
Choi Hanseo whispered, his lips grazing the mole on Eunseok’s nape. His voice carried a hint of heat, as if he was really thinking about sex.
At this rate, he was about to be entwined with this man again. Eunseok pushed Choi Hanseo’s chest forcefully with his hands. Pushed away, Choi Hanseo narrowed his eyes as if displeased.
“I need to shower and go to the guiding room right away.”
“Why?”
“We have an A-class gate scheduled for tomorrow morning. I need to do guiding today to lower everyone’s numbers.”
Hmm.
Choi Hanseo exhaled softly, his eyes full of lingering attachment. He seemed uncharacteristically weak-hearted.
“…Or you can stay here and work. I’ll come back after finishing the guiding. Two hours should be enough.”
At Eunseok’s words, a faint gleam appeared in Choi Hanseo’s eyes.
“You mean you’ll stay the night.”
After showering and doing guiding for about two hours, it would be time to go to bed when he returned. Eunseok felt a bit embarrassed, as if he had ended up seducing Choi Hanseo. Of course, he didn’t show it on his face.
“Wasn’t that your intention when you came here in the first place?”
When Eunseok asked gruffly, Choi Hanseo chuckled.
“That’s right. I came to stay the night. If you had kicked me out, I would have cried.”
His straightforward affirmation left Eunseok with nothing to say.
“Then stay here and work. I’ll take a quick shower and go to the guiding room.”
As Eunseok finished speaking and was about to turn away, Choi Hanseo quickly pressed his lips to Eunseok’s cheek and whispered.
“Come back safely. I’ll be waiting.”
That small whisper of “Come back safely. I’ll be waiting” unexpectedly pierced Eunseok’s heart strongly. His heart sank. To hide his emotional turmoil, Eunseok hurriedly escaped to the bathroom.
Eunseok turned on the shower and undressed, then walked into the still-cold water stream. He pressed his hand firmly against his loudly beating heart.
Choi Hanseo’s whisper from earlier kept echoing in his ears.
‘Come back safely. I’ll be waiting.’
It was a simple and common phrase. But it was also something Eunseok hadn’t heard since his family died.
Since being left alone in the world, Eunseok had never once thought or felt that he had a place to return to. It had been that way until now. But Choi Hanseo’s words…
The cold water gradually became lukewarm, then hot. Eunseok tried to calm his surging emotions as he let the hot water hit his slightly flushed face.
When he finished showering and opened the door, fresh clothes and underwear were neatly placed in front of the door. Eunseok hurriedly put on the clothes and left the lodging, almost as if escaping, to avoid encountering Choi Hanseo.
Moon Bora was already waiting in front of the guiding room. Both Moon Bora and Eunseok hadn’t even dried their hair.
As they sat facing each other in the guiding room and held hands, Moon Bora let out a heavy sigh. Even while receiving guiding, her furrowed brow didn’t relax, showing a face thoroughly tired of the continuous forced marches day after day.
“How long is this going to continue? They’re working us to death.”
Moon Bora grumbled discontentedly.
Eunseok chose to remain silent, knowing that the situation would only worsen, not improve, in the future.
“At least inside the gate, we can move around without worrying about kidnapping.”
Moon Bora tried to find a positive aspect of the gate raid.
“That’s true.”
Eunseok nodded.
He had been feeling sorry that Moon Bora had been on high alert for him all day while dealing with variants. Inside the gate, they would only need to focus on the monsters, which would be less stressful than dealing with variants.
Having vented her complaints once, Moon Bora seemed to feel a bit better. Her expression softened. As she was quietly receiving guiding while leaning back in her chair, Moon Bora suddenly frowned slightly. Eunseok noticed her gaze fixed on his neck and used his free hand to rub his nape. Moon Bora quickly averted her eyes with a look of realization.
Eunseok had also realized his mistake. The spot where Moon Bora had briefly fixed her gaze was the nape that Choi Hanseo was particularly obsessed with. There were likely visible marks from Choi Hanseo’s biting and sucking. That’s why Eunseok had been intentionally wearing only shirts with narrow necks… But earlier, he had thoughtlessly put on the clothes Choi Hanseo had left in front of the bathroom. Now he realized that among all the clothes, it was a shirt with a wide neckline that clearly showed his nape.
Deliberate.
Eunseok concluded inwardly. It was clear that Choi Hanseo had intentionally left out a shirt that showed his marks clearly. The purpose was obvious. He wanted Eunseok to advertise that he was taken by showing such a neck.
He was still a man who would take advantage at the slightest carelessness.
An awkward silence fell.
Moon Bora hesitated, glancing at Eunseok with awkward eyes.
“If you have something to say, just say it, noona.”
Eunseok spoke softly, disliking the awkward silence and glances. Given permission, Moon Bora leaned her upper body forward as if she had never hesitated and opened her mouth.
“Are you officially dating? What did the Guild Master say to seduce you? You know you’re dating that inscrutable, sinister person, right? He’s not human, he’s a monster! A monster!”
“It’s true that we agreed to try dating officially.”
Eunseok cleanly affirmed only the first question, pretending not to hear the unnecessary questions that followed.
“Wow…”
Moon Bora let out a sound that could have been either admiration or lamentation, her mouth slightly open.
“Well, I mean, I already guessed after seeing the news about the Guild Master’s numbers hitting zero… Wow… That person officially dating someone. And someone as normal as you falling for him. This is culture shock.”
Moon Bora continued to express her confusion, occasionally letting out sounds like “wow” and “hah.” Fortunately, her numbers weren’t that high, so the guiding ended quickly.
“Uh… Then I’ll see you tomorrow morning. And um… Since you’re dating, I hope it goes well. And…”
Moon Bora hesitated with her hand on the doorknob of the guiding room, then blurted out one more thing before fleeing out the door.
“If you ever want to escape, wave a carrot.”
Bang-
The guiding room door closed as Moon Bora disappeared after making that ridiculous joke. Eunseok, who had been trying to maintain his composure, immediately rubbed his face with his hands.
“Choi Hanseo…”
His voice naturally became fierce as it left his mouth. But there was no time to dwell on his resentment. The next person would soon arrive for guiding.
Eunseok tried to pull up the shirt hem but realized there was no way to secure it. The solution he finally came up with was to put on a white gown.
Fortunately, none of the remaining three thought it strange that Eunseok was wearing a white gown. Eunseok only took off the white gown after finishing guiding all three.
As he entered his lodging, a soft yellow light was gently illuminating the interior.
Click-
As if deliberately timed, the bathroom door opened. Along with hot steam, Choi Hanseo appeared, barely covering his lower body with a towel.
“You’re back?”
Choi Hanseo greeted him while drying his wet hair with a towel. Eunseok had intended to confront him about the shirt as soon as he arrived, but that thought flew away with the strong scent of shampoo and body cleanser emanating from Choi Hanseo.
The feeling from when he left the lodging two hours ago surged again.
‘Come back safely.’
Those words gently brushed his ears.
He had come back, and Choi Hanseo was here like this. Why did this simple fact stir his heart so much?
As Eunseok stood still, staring, Choi Hanseo cupped his cheek and looked at him with concerned eyes.
“What’s wrong? Are you very tired?”
“…No. It’s nothing.”
Eunseok muttered vaguely.
“Let’s go in and lie down quickly. We need to sleep soon if we’re going to wake up early tomorrow.”
Choi Hanseo took Eunseok’s hand and headed towards the bedroom. Eunseok followed him very obediently, as if enchanted.
Choi Hanseo led Eunseok to sit on the bed.
