VSP 82

When he stopped worrying about Cha Dogyeong, another emotion quickly took place.

Why had he been so anxious just now? Seo Sejun wondered.

And along with it came another thought, could it be that Cha Dogyeong…?

“Am I overreacting?”

Sejun asked the system, which could think more objectively than he could.

[Hmm, if what you’re thinking right now is that Hunter Cha Dogyeong might’ve done that because of what Hunter Lee Dohun did to you, then I think the same.]

“Ah.”

[Otherwise, it’s impossible to imagine Hunter Cha Dogyeong acting like that toward anyone.]

The system had already understood the situation more clearly than anyone.

Cha Dogyeong would never do that. That summed it up perfectly.

The reason Cha Dogyeong fought with Lee Dohun was none other than Seo Sejun.

“……”

Sejun fidgeted with his hands

The system was right. Cha Dogyeong wasn’t someone interested in others. Like a cool Red hero from an old sentai show, he never paid much attention to what people thought of him.

Good attention or bad attention, it didn’t matter. Unless someone crossed the line too far, he usually ignored it.

When Sejun had been insulted in the Association cafe before, hadn’t Dogyeong said there was no need to care about that? That he didn’t even know who those people were? That he didn’t care?

He wasn’t someone who stepped up for others either. He only acted when it was something he had to do as someone with power, something only he could do, and he did it without complaint.

He knew that fighting wasn’t a good thing, but if Sejun’s guess was right, then that meant Cha Dogyeong, a man who always kept clear boundaries, had gotten angry at Lee Dohun because of Seo Sejun.

Sejun hadn’t been able to get angry himself and had only cried because he was hurt, but Dogyeong had gotten angry for him, like an older brother who saw the neighborhood bully make his little brother cry.

From Choi Hangyeol’s reaction, it seemed like Cha Dogyeong hadn’t said a word about Sejun. That was probably the same for Lee Dohun too, but what mattered to Sejun was Dogyeong.

What emotion was this supposed to be?

Now he couldn’t even tell himself that everything Dogyeong did was just because of that ridiculous Lucky Love Mode.

How was he supposed to think about him now.

His mouth felt dry, so Sejun poured himself a glass of water and drank it. But even then, his chest felt too hot to cool down.

In front of a question that only he could answer, Sejun wandered, unable to find a reply.

But if you really did that because of me, then what about me?

[Sejun-nim, your heart’s beating really fast.]

As always, the system interrupted him. But this time, Sejun didn’t get mad.

“Yeah.”

This time, he admitted it.

“This kind of feels… like something.”

That was probably the first moment Sejun ever admitted his own feelings about Cha Dogyeong.

He admitted it himself, and his chest burned even hotter, so Sejun drank another glass of water, though that didn’t calm him either.

And at that moment, the system felt another presence start to assert itself.

<Kyahaha.>

As always, it was Lucky Love Mode.

It seemed to have a mind of its own, but it couldn’t be reasoned with. The system clicked its tongue.

[It’s gone crazy again…]

Lucky Love Mode looked ready to cause trouble again, but the system, even though it was worried, had no way to stop it.

While feeling slightly distraught. Seo Sejun’s first realization passed like that.

•••

Choi Hangyeol walked while carrying a fruit basket in one hand.

Choi Yerin, who was too busy to visit, had told him that it would be rude to go empty-handed, so she had given it to him to bring along.

The basket was decorated extravagantly and filled with delicious-looking fruit, but Hangyeol doubted that the patient he was visiting today would actually eat any of it.

With that temper, it would already be a miracle if he didn’t smash the whole thing.

Anyway, with everything prepared for the visit, Choi Hangyeol hummed lightly as he headed toward the medical center of the association.

Lee Dohun, who had fought with Cha Dogyeong – though honestly, Hangyeol thought the word “fought” didn’t even fit here – was hospitalized in the medical ward inside the Association building.

“No broken bones, please.”

Healer Choi Yerin healed most of the wounds with her skill, but she said that healing bones wrong would be a headache, so instead of forcing a full heal, she hospitalized Lee Dohun inside the Association’s medical center.

The center had its own ward, and if word of Lee Dohun’s injury spread outside, it would reveal that he and Cha Dogyeong had a huge fight, so almost no one knew that he was hospitalized.

That was why Choi Hangyeol decided to visit. They were bad friends, but they were still close enough, and since no one else would come visit, he spent time for that lonely friend who was stuck in a hospital room with no one around.

Of course, if Lee Dohun heard that, he would snort and say, “You think you’re my friend?”

“Hey.”

Choi Hangyeol greeted brightly as he stepped into the room. For someone like him who always carried a gloomy air, that was about as bright as it got.

It wasn’t a large hospital, and the ward, tucked inside the Association’s center, was clean but bare, too empty to feel lived in. Inside that sterile space, Lee Dohun lay with his eyes closed. His face didn’t look pale like a patient’s; he actually looked quite healthy.

But the person who should’ve answered that greeting only stayed still on the bed with his eyes closed.

“Yeah, right.”

Even with his eyes closed, Hangyeol wasn’t fooled. An S-rank hunter with perception that good couldn’t possibly stay asleep when someone entered that loudly. No matter how bad his condition was, that was impossible.

And in truth, Lee Dohun was awake. His frowned as he opened his eyes.

“If you came to laugh, then get out.”

“Oh, should I smile?”

Hangyeol grinned and placed the fruit basket on the bedside table.

Dohun looked at the basket like it was some strange object and then glared at Hangyeol with visible annoyance.

“Damn it, what the hell’s a fruit basket for?”

“Choi Yerin told me to bring it.”

“Haa…”

He could get annoyed at Hangyeol for bringing it, but not at Choi Yerin for telling him to, so he only frowned and said nothing.

“No one else’s gonna visit you anyway, not with the gag order.”

Hangyeol tore the plastic wrap off the fruit basket with casual taps. He didn’t even seem to think of it as a get-well gift.

Half of Dohun’s irritation came from that gag order, and the other half came from Hangyeol tearing the basket open right in front of him like it was nothing, and he frowned even more.

In a way, this bastard wasn’t even doing it on purpose. Maybe this was what pure evil looked like.

In the end, Dohun sat up.

“So you can move already?”

“I just need my bones to stick right, that’s all. Honestly, I’m not even really a patient.”

“I guess so.”

If Choi Yerin had treated him properly and he still wasn’t healed, that would’ve been stranger. In short, this hospitalization was more out of caution than necessity. He was a fake patient.

Actually, the whole thing was strange.

The opponent was no one less than another S-rank hunter. An S-rank getting injured in an A-rank dungeon? Not by a monster, but because they fought each other?

Ryu Sehyun had probably kept it secret not only to avoid stirring trouble but also because the whole situation was ridiculous.

They knew each other well. They weren’t reckless teenagers. Yet somehow, they suddenly fought inside a dungeon, and one of them ended up seriously injured?

They hadn’t even been on bad terms. Since both of them had shut their mouths when asked why they fought, Ryu Sehyun, already busy and overworked, must’ve been at his limit.

“Give Sehyun-hyung a break. He’s already busy and tired enough.”

Hangyeol clicked his tongue.

Without a word, Lee Dohun closed his eyes again, as if he had nothing to say.

Silence filled the room for a while.

Hmm, Hangyeol crossed his arms and tapped his forearm lightly. He had teased plenty, but in truth, he found the whole thing just as confusing.

He had come partly to ask about it, so after looking down at his bad friend’s face for a bit, he asked.

“If Cha Dogyeong got angry, doesn’t that mean you provoked him?”

Lee Dohun opened his eyes wide as soon as he heard that. Oh, he’s mad, Hangyeol thought casually as he saw the furious look on Dohun’s face.

“Damn it, that bastard hit me first.”

“That’s what I figured.”

MHangyeol didn’t seem to care that he was angry.

“If he threw the first hit, then you must’ve pissed him off.”

“……”

Maybe because he was right, Lee Dohun closed his mouth.