VSP 27

[Sejun-nim, Lucky Love Mode says it feels so good it could make you faint.]

The system spoke, as if trying to rile him up further. With Dogyeong’s sharp hearing, Sejun couldn’t dare answer out loud, so he only grumbled inwardly.

What the hell does that mean?

[That’s supposed to be a requirement for the ‘top.’]

What… wait, you can even communicate with that thing?

[Not exactly, more like… a strong will made manifest. Hard to explain…]

‘It says having an empty house with barely any belongings counts as a requirement for the top too, but I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.’ The system continued, leaving Sejun just as confused, he tilted his head.

Whatever it was, Lucky Love Mode wasn’t normal. If he kept getting angry, he felt like he’d snap the ladle in half, so he forced himself to calm down and tasted the noodle water again. His tongue was burnt, so he could barely taste anything.

Ah, whatever. As long as it wasn’t bland, it was fine. He set the noodle water roughly, irritated, and put the pasta in to boil.

He pulled the duck meat out, tossed in garlic, added some olive oil, cooking mechanically while thinking the kitchen felt too hot.

Of course, most of that was thanks to the filthy words Dogyeong had thrown around, but he tried to tell himself it was just because he was standing at the stove.

•••

Dropwort duck pasta turned out to be a great success.

Dogyeong, staring doubtfully at the dish topped with piles of dropwort, eventually cleaned the whole plate. Then he even polished off the extra portion Sejun had made just in case.

“Tastes good.”

He even honestly reviewed it.

Having someone eat his cooking with genuine enjoyment, going through multiple bowls, wasn’t a bad feeling. By then, Sejun felt maybe he could overlook some of the outrageous things Dogyeong had said earlier.

Not that it made him look any cuter.

The problem was after the meal. Sejun even did the dishes, wiped the sink spotless, and took care of the food waste. But once all that was done, he had no idea what to do next.

It was already dark outside. Not exactly bedtime yet, but common sense said you didn’t linger late at someone else’s place unless you were close.

Of course, with Cha Dogyeong, their relationship wasn’t warm enough to be ruined by a bit of bad manners. But with his original goal ‘eating together’ accomplished, there really was nothing left to do.

And of course, the system didn’t recognize this as flirting.

Watching the sub-mission timer dip just under a full day left, Sejun swallowed nervously and spoke.

“Can I get a cup of coffee?”

It was a pitiful attempt to stall.

Dogyeong casually pulled out instant mix and made him a coffee.

Maybe because he knew Sejun had bought the groceries and cooked for him, the great EX-rank hunter didn’t hesitate to do something as menial as make coffee.

That Cha Dogyeong!

In this world, there were countless fans who would swoon even if Dogyeong handed them plain water from the purifier. But unfortunately, Sejun wasn’t one of those fans.

For someone who carefully chose coffee beans and had a million-won machine at home, instant coffee was just a bit sad.

But the bigger problem was that even sipping slowly at half a paper cup of mix coffee wasn’t enough to drag out the time.

“You’re not leaving?”

At last, Dogyeong spoke the eviction order. From his perspective, it must look strange for Sejun to sit silently hogging the sofa without saying anything.

“W-what, you’re just sending me home?”

Sejun asked like he couldn’t believe it, but Dogyeong only frowned.

“Of course. You said let’s eat. We ate. You had coffee too.”

He had no answer. That had been the whole excuse, and in fact Sejun’s forceful ‘let’s eat together’ mission had succeeded. He’d come to Dogyeong’s home and eaten with him. Considering that normally they weren’t friends but snarled at each other, that was already something.

But what of it, when the sub-mission still hadn’t cleared.

His brain, which had been sluggishly turning all evening without finding words, suddenly spun fast under the conviction that he couldn’t go bald.

After rolling his thoughts around for a while, he finally blurted out.

“Can I… stay a bit longer?”

From Sejun’s side it was desperation, but the words could easily be taken another way.

Completely unaware of that nuance, Sejun only looked up at him with wide, round eyes. But Dogyeong’s mind froze at the thought, Did he really mean what I think he meant?

At this late hour, saying he wanted to stay longer… what else could that imply?

But why would Seo Sejun say that to me?

“……?”

Dogyeong looked him up and down.

It wasn’t like Seo Sejun was lacking in any obvious way.

Even by Dogyeong’s high standards, his face was handsome enough. His body was decent too, even if he was a guy. His personality was completely incompatible with his own, but…

But no matter how fine everything else was, the fact that he was male was the problem. Dogyeong had only ever been drawn to women. Only women had ever aroused him.

Men had never once been the object of his desire.

Though lately… things felt a little different.

Unlike before, he didn’t seem to cause that many accidents anymore, and in some ways he even looked different, enough to make Dogyeong think he might have this side to him.

But Dogyeong also knew. Seo Sejun hated him.

So why was he acting like this all of a sudden? What was he plotting? Why was Seo Sejun, the hunter known as the worst troublemaker, suddenly behaving this way toward him? Dogyeong had no idea. What was inside that small head of his?

Under Dogyeong’s gaze, Sejun kept fidgeting and glancing nervously, then screwed his eyes shut like he didn’t care anymore and shouted.

“Or we could just kiss!”

It was a wildly out-of-place line, but considering Sejun’s earlier “Can I stay a bit later?” had already carried that kind of nuance, Dogyeong wasn’t all that surprised.

Of course, it was a ridiculous misunderstanding, but not knowing that, Dogyeong asked back in a low voice.

“…Why?”

“Why do you think?!”

“This isn’t a dungeon. Why would you and I kiss?”

Yes, they had kissed before, and yes, it had been a long one, but that was because they had no choice if they wanted to avoid falling into the Antlion Hell.

This was Dogyeong’s house, not some penalty-infested dungeon. The two of them weren’t anything to each other, and Dogyeong had no reason to kiss Seo Sejun.

Though the surprising thing was that, even with Sejun not only saying he wanted to stay the night–which, to Sejun, was only a desperate attempt to stall for time, something that would make him jump in outrage if he knew–but now even saying something like that, Dogyeong wasn’t immediately brushing him off with his usual “Ha, get lost.”

“Just, could you… do it?”

Defeated by the “Why would you and I kiss?,” Sejun muttered with a gloomy face. It was practically a whine.

“……”

Dogyeong tapped his knee with his finger.

He always thought he could see right through Seo Sejun, but lately he really didn’t know what was going on in that head.

And even less could he understand himself, for not just kicking him out right then.

In the end, Dogyeong decided to follow his gut, which usually didn’t lead to bad results. Maybe it was a whim, but truthfully, the last time hadn’t felt that bad either.

If it was just a brief bit of fun, there was no reason not to.

Without realizing that he was knocking down part of the solid dam he had built up inside himself, Dogyeong opened his mouth.

“To be honest, when you said you wanted to stay late at my place, I thought I might be overthinking and interpreting it the wrong way.”

“What….”

“Doesn’t look like it was overthinking after all.”

Sejun’s jaw dropped as he finally understood the meaning.

His brain started spinning furiously.

Yes, they were both men, but with what had happened lately, with that odd mood in the kitchen earlier, with his own “Can I stay a little longer?” followed right after by “We could kidd,” anyone would take those words that way.

But! But Sejun was innocent!

Not that Dogyeong cared to understand Sejun’s thoughts or circumstances. He leaned closer to him.