VSP 147

“Seo Sejun. Are you hiding something from me?”

Those words took Sejun’s breath away. He could feel his hands trembling.

Sejun knew the answer to this question. However, he couldn’t speak honestly.

How could he say that this world was actually a novel, and the character “Seo Sejun” is the one the author first envisioned?

Could he say he was Seo Sejun, but also wasn’t Seo Sejun? Sejun didn’t have the confidence to properly explain that to Cha Dogyeong. He’d be lucky if he wasn’t treated like a crazy person.

No, that wasn’t it.

Seo Sejun, be honest with yourself. You’re just afraid Cha Dogyeong will find out.

If he confessed the world’s secrets, he’d naturally have to confess how he knew them. If he explained this world, he’d inevitably have to reveal the secrets it held.

Sejun was terrible at lying, so he didn’t have the confidence to mix in appropriate lies whenever Cha Dogyeong expressed doubt. More than anything, he didn’t want to.

How could I tell you that the reason I approached you was actually because of a mission? You’d be disappointed. I’d be disappointed too if I were you.

You’d be disappointed and distance yourself….

Hoya’s disappearance was hard enough to handle. Sejun didn’t have the confidence to endure it if Cha Dogyeong turned away from him for a reason at a time like this.

“….”

Sejun couldn’t reply and kept his mouth shut. Cha Dogyeong quietly watched Sejun, then he picked him up.

“Huh?”

Sejun’s eyes went wide, and he wrapped his arms around Cha Dogyeong’s neck. He suddenly moved while clinging to Cha Dogyeong’s body like a koala on a tree. He flailed in panic but leaned into the warm embrace.

“Dogyeong.”

“It’s fine.”

What was fine? Did he mean he’d made his judgment? Did he mean he didn’t need to hear any more? Sejun’s heart was about to turn cold, but then he heard unexpected words.

“You don’t have to say anything. You look so embarrassed you could die.”

He meant he wouldn’t ask any more. It seemed Sejun knew something and was hiding it, but Cha Dogyeong meant he’d just let it go. It was because Sejun was struggling.

“Honestly, I have a ton of things I want to ask, and I don’t like letting things go like this. But as long as you don’t have any more problems, let’s just drop it for now. Calm down first.”

Cha Dogyeong’s touch was gentle as he patted Sejun’s back.

“Wait here while I clean up the glass.”

Cha Dogyeong placed Sejun on the bed in his room and left to clean the messy kitchen. Sejun was left alone and fidgeted with his fingers. His fingertips couldn’t find their warmth and wete frozen cold.

He felt once again that he was too selfish. He’d agreed to play with someone’s heart just to get a bit stronger. Even if the penalty was mandatory, Sejun was still an accomplice in the end.

He’d decided to proudly like him after he finished the main mission, but that was meaningless now. He’d been in a position where he couldn’t be proud from the very start. The fact that he was deceiving him even now because he needed Cha Dogyeong was proof that he was endlessly selfish.

He was weak and selfish.

“….”

Sejun hugged his knees.

The system he could rely on was gone, and Hoya had disappeared too, so he couldn’t do anything. Now, all he had left was a miserable body and a shattered spirit. Wasn’t he too pathetic to call himself an S-rank hunter?

I was originally pathetic. I struggled to pretend otherwise, but I knew the truth.

He felt like everything was empty. People might say he could just make a contract with a new summon, but he couldn’t. He shouldn’t. Hoya was Sejun’s summon. That was the one thing that shouldn’t change.

…But what’s the point of thinking that? What can you even do, Seo Sejun?

If you were that ‘Seo Sejun’, it might be different, but you can’t do anything. You’re just too weak.

The melancholy that naturally followed his thoughts was palpable. Sejun sighed and rubbed his face with his hands.

Cha Dogyeong finished cleaning the glass and returned. He found Sejun sunken in gloom, so he approached and knelt in front of him.

“I don’t know anything about summons, so what should I do?”

Cha Dogyeong gently brushed Sejun’s bangs aside and rubbed Sejun’s red-rimmed eyes. It seemed he thought Sejun’s gloom was because of the missing Hoya. Of course, Sejun felt depressed just thinking about Hoya, but he closed his eyes because he couldn’t bring himself to say the other reason.

“I’ll find Hoya, so just wait a bit.”

Cha Dogyeong was desperate to comfort Sejun. However, the more Cha Dogyeong tried to comfort him, the more Sejun’s mood continued to drop.

“Why don’t you ask anything?”

Sejun finally couldn’t take it and asked. He knew he wouldn’t be able to answer even if Cha Dogyeong asked, so he regretted the question within a second. Then he heard Cha Dogyeong’s answer.

“Because you don’t seem to want to answer. So don’t.”

“You’re curious too. How can you not be curious about what happened?”

“I’m confused. I’m also curious if ‘that’ actually disappeared.”

It wasn’t just a matter of being confused; he must wonder what it was. But Cha Dogyeong spoke as if it didn’t matter.

“But you’re suffering so much right now, so should I make you suffer more just to satisfy some curiosity? I don’t want to do that.”

“….”

“I’ll worry if I leave you alone, so stay over tonight. Okay?”

His voice was sweet. Sejun asked in a confused voice.

“Why are you so kind?”

However, Cha Dogyeong’s expression quickly turned mischievous, as if that question had offended him.

“Well, should I be mean instead?”

“No, it’s not that….”

Sejun realized he’d stepped on a landmine and tried to quickly make an excuse, but Cha Dogyeong was faster.

“The person I like is having a hard time, so I don’t really want to do that.”

Sejun just stared at Cha Dogyeong with his mouth open for a while, then he opened his mouth without thinking.

“I like you too.”

The words that were spoken without passing through the mind contained his sincerity.

“….”

Cha Dogyeong just blinked, he seemingly hadn’t expected Sejun to return his words like this.

“…Ha.”

He was stunned, but he sighed and covered his face with his hands. He looked like someone who was afraid something inside him might burst out.

And Sejun saw it. Cha Dogyeong’s ears, which rarely turned red, were flushed.

…Is his face turning red right now?

Sejun’s ears also turned red as if it were contagious. He realized late just how much sincerity he’d confessed.

Are you really an amoeba, Seo Sejun? Just a few minutes ago, he was feeling depressed about this situation, with Hoya gone, the system gone, and a Seo Sejun from another world popping up, and it’s unclear if he’ll show up again. How can you be excited right now?

He scolded himself, but the problem was that this was a physiological phenomenon he couldn’t control. In the end, Sejun couldn’t look at Cha Dogyeong anymore and lowered his head. If the system were here, he probably would’ve clicked his tongue and said, ‘You’re having such an innocent romance that really doesn’t suit you,’ but unfortunately, he was away.

“Anyway.”

Cha Dogyeong cleared his throat after a long time.

“You don’t have to say anything. Just remember one thing.”

“…What.”

“Trust me no matter what.”

Sejun raised his head at those random words. Cha Dogyeong still had a bit of a flush on his face, but he looked at Sejun with a firm expression.

“I’ll find Hoya too. I won’t be disappointed no matter what you’re hiding, so don’t worry too much. Talk if you want to, and don’t if you don’t want to.”

The conditions were excessively favorable to Sejun. But if he asked why, Cha Dogyeong would just answer again that it was because he liked Sejun. The Cha Dogyeong Sejun knew wasn’t the type of person to make empty promises just to comfort someone.

“So don’t make a face like you’ve lost the whole world.”

He said was what bothered him in the end, and Sejun nodded.

“…Okay.”

Sejun’s guilt didn’t disappear in an instant just because of Cha Dogyeong’s words, but he felt like the burden on his heart lightened a bit. Cha Dogyeong watched Sejun, then he leaned down and kissed Sejun’s lips.

It was different from the playful kiss before. Sejun opened his mouth and clumsily entwined his tongue with the one entering. For a while, only wet sounds filled the room.

By the time they’d bitten and sucked until Sejun’s lips and the corners of his mouth glistened with saliva, Sejun frowned when he felt something pressing against his abdomen.

“Cha Dogyeong.”

“What?”

How should he say this? He thought for a moment. Sejun’s brain had been running at its limit and had chosen to take a break, so he couldn’t find the energy to look for more elegant words. So, in the end, the blunt words spilled out.