VSP 101

Sejun, who had not expected Lee Dohun to call him, flinched and stopped. Lee Dohun sighed and said.

“It was just a coincidence that we met. Le t’s talk if you have time.”

Sejun turned around and looked at Lee Dohun with an awkward expression, then pointed his finger at Dohun and himself alternately.

“You and me?”

“Is there anyone else here?”

“That’s not what I’m saying, you crazy bastard.”

The problem wasn’t the situation. It was that the people trying to “talk” were Lee Dohun and Seo Sejun. Dohun and Sejun having a conversation, there were few things in the world that sounded more awkward than that.

Between them, there had only ever been fights, arguments, problems, and swearing. Nothing else could exist there.

“You don’t have any dungeon raids lined up anyway. You’re free.”

“……”

From that rude tone, it really was Lee Dohun.

Just like that day with Lee Yongseok, Dohun continued doing things that were completely out of character for him.

Of course, Sejun knew that life would be easier without fights and conflicts. But after years of fighting with Dohun, he couldn’t imagine anything peaceful ever existing between them.

Displeased by Sejun’s silence, Lee Dohun let out a short sigh.

“Come on.”

A hand reached out with a firm voice. Sejun blinked, startled by the sensation of his wrist being grabbed. His body was half-dragged, and when he came to his senses, he was already sitting across from Lee Dohun in a four-person seat.

A suffocating silence filled the table. If not for the noise of the busy cafe around them, the awkwardness might have killed him.

It seemed he wasn’t the only one unsure where to start; Dohun also frowned and looked thoughtful.

Eventually, he spoke, just as Sejun began sipping the latte he’d been holding.

“Seo Sejun.”

“What?”

“Don’t respond. Just listen.”

You said you wanted to talk, idiot.

Since when was a conversation one-way? Sejun grumbled inwardly, but Dohun continued, not caring about the look on his face.

“Before the Final Dungeon, I hated everything.”

“Uh, okay.”

“I said don’t respond. …Anyway, I hated it because it felt like I was being controlled. Whatever I did, whatever I thought… it all felt like it wasn’t mine. And for some reason, I thought it was your fault.”

Sejun’s face twisted even more, but Dohun continued talking.

“I know it was baseless. I didn’t even know where that voice in my head—telling me to hate you, to torment you—came from. Maybe it was just me. I don’t know. Everything pissed me off, but following that feeling was the only thing that made me feel… normal. But after clearing the Final Dungeon and taking care of the ex-president, suddenly…”

He frowned, searching for the right word, pausing for a while seemingly trying to name a feeling. Then he said quietly,

“I felt free. And it turns out I wasn’t the only one.”

Free.

The moment Sejun heard that word, he trembled slightly.

He knew why. Out of everyone in this world, he was the only one who understood it. He knew exactly why Lee Dohun had felt that way.

Because the story had ended.

The people who had been moving according to a script had finally stepped out of their assigned roles and regained their freedom.

He wasn’t even the original author, yet guilt prickled in his chest. Sejun turned his head slightly, but Dohun continued speaking.

“Hangyeol said something to me the other day.”

“…What?”

“He told me to think about whether my hatred toward you was ever real.”

Sejun turned back to him. Dohun was looking at him.

“At first, I thought he was talking nonsense. But the more I thought about it, the stranger it felt.”

“What do you mean…”

“I started wondering if I ever really hated you that much.”

Sejun pursed his lips.

If what Dohun said was true, then he was the victim, someone whose emotions had been manipulated against his will.

But sitting across from him was an even greater victim.

No matter how you looked at it, Dohun had tormented Sejun over and over again.

And not once had Sejun heard a real apology from him.

Sejun’s expression naturally turned gloomy.

“So what is it you want to say? An apology? A sob story?”

“…If I apologize, will you even accept it?”

“Fuck, Lee Dohun.”

Sejun clenched his teeth. Fortunately, the latte cup was already on the table, because if he’d been holding anything, it probably would’ve shattered by now.

Right then, all he wanted was to break something, whatever was in his hand, the table in front of him, anything.

Back when the original story was still unfolding, not every bad thing that happened to Sejun had been Dohun’s doing, but Dohun had definitely played a major part.

He’d called him useless to his face, left him behind, made public jabs at him on social media, mentioned him in interviews just to mock him, turning him into a national joke.

And now, after all that, after admitting he had his reasons, he had the nerve to ask if Sejun would accept an apology?

It was so ridiculous that Sejun actually laughed.

“You couldn’t pull off an apology even if you tried, you bastard.”

The words had barely left his mouth when,

“Sorry.”

The word came from Dohun’s mouth in a small voice.

He’d been circling around the topic for a while, but Sejun had never once imagined he’d actually hear that word from him.

For a few long seconds, Sejun could only blink, speechless.

He couldn’t have imagined it. Not from Lee Dohun.

Not knowing what to say, he just opened and closed his mouth soundlessly.

But his mouth moved faster than his thoughts.

“What? It’s so quiet, I can’t hear you?”

Although his voice was a bit quiet, it wasn’t unheard. However, when Sejun began to taunt him, Lee Do-hun’s expression contorted.

But he sighed and spoke again, as if he had been thinking about how many times he could endure it.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Huh? I can’t hear you? I can’t hear you at all.”

When Sejun leaned in and cupped a hand to his ear, Dohun’s face turned bright red.

“Goddamn it! I said I’m sorry!”

“Are you actually apologizing right now? Is that the attitude of someone who’s sorry?”

“You said you couldn’t hear, so I said it louder! I’m sorry!”

“Exactly what I meant, that’s why you’re hopeless, you rotten jerk!”

It was when Sejun, annoyed, threw the straw he was holding at Lee Dohun.

“What’s going on with you two?”

The familiar voice came suddenly from beside them. Both Sejun and Dohun froze and turned their heads at the same time.

Somehow, during their loud back-and-forth, Choi Hangyeol had appeared right next to their table.

What the hell? Seriously, what was with today? Was this cafe cursed or something? Sejun frowned bitterly.

“What are you doing here?”

“Sejun-hyung, shouldn’t I be asking that? I was the one supposed to meet Dohun here.”

“…Ah.”

It made sense, actually. It was a big, popular cafe. Great coffee, good desserts, always crowded, three floors in its own building, perfect for meet-ups.

In other words, a place where bad timing made running into people inevitable. And today, Sejun’s luck was just that bad.

This hadn’t happened before because Sejun rarely wandered around the area, but it was a neighborhood where it wasn’t unusual to run into other hunters at any time. Today, somehow, he stumbled upon it.

Sejun made a shit-eating expression as he realized that this wasn’t that strange.

Choi Hangyeol, who had been watching the two people who were irritated with each other, smiled brightly and naturally took the seat next to Sejun.

He quickly reached out, put his arm around Sejun’s shoulder, and pulled him toward him. Sejun, caught off guard, suddenly found hims elf half-engulfed in Choi Han-gyeol’s arms.

“What the hell? Get off me.”

Sejun protested, but Hangyeol ignored him.

“Sejun-hyung.”

“What. And can you move a bit…”

“You smell like Cha Dogyeong.”

At that, Sejun froze. The hand he’d raised to push Hangyeol away faltered mid-air, resting weakly against his chest instead.

Sejun felt his face heat up in an instant.