VSP 145

Seo Sejun is Seo Sejun, yet he is not Seo Sejun. It was a change his own parents might not have easily recognized, but it seemed he couldn’t fool Cha Dogyeong’s eyes.

However, he hadn’t expected to be found out this quickly.

Only silence filled the house. He did consider feigning ignorance and asking what he meant again. But Sejun decided it would be a waste of time and smiled.

“I saw the news on my way here. They’re already reporting on the Final Dungeon. Well, the sooner the better, right?”

Dogyeong grew nervous as he watched ‘Sejun’ respond with a completely different topic, as if he hadn’t even heard his words.

Sejun shook his head when he saw the tension building in Dogyeong’s fingertips, he looked ready to attack at any moment.

“Don’t do it. You’ll regret it.”

Because the body is still the Sejun you cherish.

Despite the matter-of-fact tone, Dogyeong’s hand twitched. Perhaps he knew it was the truth.

“……Who are you?”

“What have you been talking about since earlier? I’m your Sejun-hyung.”

“No, you’re not. Where is Sejun?”

“Right in front of you.”

A few exchanges passed in an endlessly lighthearted manner. He knew he’d been found out, but Sejun pushed Dogyeong away with a casual “What are you talking about?”

The reason? Simply because it looked like it would be fun to watch the shaken Dogyeong.

‘That’s the part of you I hate the most.’

Of course, you said you hated me for being like this.

“I am Sejun. If we’re being precise, I’d say I’m the original.”

What Sejun said next was the most truthful thing he’d said all day.

“What are you talking about?”

But to Dogyeong’s ears, it sounded like the worst nonsense he’d heard all day. His expression darkened.

It was a fierce battle with neither side giving an inch, but unfortunately for Dogyeong, Sejun, who knew the truth, inevitably held the upper hand here.

Sejun spoke calmly as he naturally moved closer to the kitchen. His hand reached for a glass and poured water from the purifier.

“You know it, you know too. That I’m Sejun.”

“……”

“It’s just that my personality changed a bit. Were your feelings for me so shallow that you immediately started disliking me?”

Sejun smiled as he cornered Dogyeong. As he went to drink the water he’d poured, he noticed the water in the cup was rippling.

It wasn’t Sejun’s hand shaking. It was simply the air inside this house that was trembling.

Unable to withstand the tense standoff between two EX-rank hunters.

Dogyeong watched’Sejun’ stare at the water cup. His heart raced so fast he almost lost control of his breathing.

He had thought it strange that Sejun’s state had been off since that problematic dungeon.

Though he’d only seen him a few times directly since that incident, as he constantly postponed their meetings. Even through text messages alone, Dogyeong felt an inexplicable sense of anxiety.

Something’s wrong. Something’s definitely wrong. It feels like I’m missing something important. Like I’ve lost something crucial. But I feel like I’m ignoring it. I… I…

I feel like I’m making a mistake.

The rising impatience, the anxiety that he was overlooking something critical, the fear with no clear cause, these clenched Dogyeong’s heart several times a day.

“Can’t you even recognize your own boyfriend?  I’m gonna be disappointed at this rate.”

Sejun spoke casually, as if he hadn’t just been staring into the glass, and took a sip of water while continuing to pressure him.

His grumbling tone felt exactly like the Seo Sejun Dogyeong knew. His appearance, his body, his scent, everything was the Seo Sejun Dogyeong knew. If even his tone was identical, it would be strange to feel he was different.

But even so, Dogyeong was certain.

Hearing those words only strengthened his conviction.

That wasn’t Sejun. At least, it wasn’t the man Cha Dogyeong loved, the man Cha Dogyeong had fallen for.

Because, as he said, Dogyeong was confident he would recognize immediately if it wasn’t Sejun.

Of course, if this Sejun insisted he was the real one, Dogyeong would have no way to verify it. Fortunately, in this case, there was a way.

Dogyeong knew who, among everyone except himself, loved Sejun the most.

“Then summon Hoya.”

“……”

“If he’s your summoned beast, there’s no way he wouldn’t recognize you.”

He said this not simply because summoned beasts are bound by a contract with their summoner, but because if it was that being who loved Sejun more than anyone else in the world, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize Sejun.

Sejun fell silent.

But Sejun quickly lifted the corners of his mouth into a smile.

He seemed to find that suggestion troublesome.

***

Sejun’s mind kept wandering to some unknown place.

It’s cold.

Even though it wasn’t that cold a season, he found himself thinking it was cold and curled up. He searched for a blanket that wasn’t there, and muttered about the cold. Yet his mind still wouldn’t wake up.

He couldn’t even bring himself to ask the fundamental question, “What was I doing?” He just kept his eyes closed and let time pass.

He didn’t know how much time went by.

Then, suddenly, he heard a voice.

‘You know it, you know too. That I’m Sejun.’

Sejun immediately recognized the voice. It was his voice.

Come to think of it, recently, a voice identical to his seemed to have asked him something.

‘It’s just that my personality changed a bit. Were your feelings for me so shallow that you immediately started disliking me?’

The voice sounded urgent again. No, not the voice… Sejun.

But not Seo Sejun. Another Seo Sejun.

The moment Sejun realized who was being addressed, his mind returned to its proper focus.

Ah, it was Cha Dogyeong.

The man staring at Sejun with that cold expression he hadn’t seen in a long time.

The moment he saw that face he’d longed to see until he lost consciousness, Sejun opened his mouth to say something.

But no words came out. It was his own body, yet he couldn’t control it.

‘Can’t you even recognize your own boyfriend?  I’m gonna be disappointed at this rate.’

‘Sejun’ spoke words beyond his own will. Only then did Sejun realize Dogyeong suspected ‘Sejun’.

And that this entity was pretending to be Sejun.

Even that line, mimicking Sejun’s tone so perfectly it was mind-boggling even to Sejun himself, didn’t shake Dogyeong.

‘Then summon Hoya.’

His brief relief was short-lived. The moment he heard Dogyeong say to call Hoya, Sejun felt his stomach turn cold for another reason.

Come to think of it, that strange feeling of emptiness, it was because he couldn’t sense Hoya’s presence.

Why can’t I sense Hoya?

Sejun searched for Hoya. His soul companion, always connected, whose presence he could feel whether near or far.

But he wasn’t there. He couldn’t sense him.

“Hoya?”

He managed to talk, but Sejun’s body didn’t actually move, and the sound only echoed inside. Sejun called for Hoya in a trembling voice.

But the being who had always responded in some way whenever Sejun called out didn’t reply.

“Hoya, answer me.”

Sejun called desperately, but the surroundings remained silent.

As if the existence called Hoya had disappeared from Sejun.

No, that couldn’t be. Hoya was someone who would always be by Sejun’s side, no matter what.

Even though Sejun was lacking and always made things hard for Hoya, even though he acted pathetically and disappointed Hoya… Hoya would never abandon him.

He had to believe that.

“Hoya, where are you?”

Just as Sejun desperately called out to Hoya again.

[What? You woke up?]

Something revealed itself.

It wasn’t Hoya. Yet, the being glowed with the same blue light as Hoya. It was a summoned beast in the form of a dragon. He couldn’t tell whose summoned beast it was, or why it was here.

With a unique appearance blending an Eastern dragon and a Western dragon, it flew around near Sejun’s incomplete soul and observed him with apparent interest.

[Hmm, even though you’re both Seo Sejun, this one is far weaker. Interesting enough.]

Stunned by its sudden appearance, Sejun hurriedly spoke to the summoned creature, which seemed to know him.

“Who are you?”

[A Sejun who doesn’t know me? How amusing. I am Ruya.]

The dragon executed an elegant aerial somersault.

Ruya? The name sounded similar to Hoya. It was the kind of name someone like Sejun would give if his summoned creature were a dragon…

“Do you happen to know where Hoya is?”

Despite the strange sense of familiarity and all the questions, Sejun hurriedly asked. After all, the other was a summoned beast like Hoya, so perhaps he knew something about him.

It was also the only straw Sejun could grasp at right now. But the dragon who introduced himself as Ruya immediately wrinkled his nose at the question.

[Hoya? Ah, that one?]

Ruya, who referred to Hoya as ‘that one’, seemed to harbor some resentment towards him for some reason. His sullen face remained as he stated bluntly.

[He was annihilated.]