VSP 63

The situation where two people who hated each other to the point of disgust were forced to kiss was created by none other than Lucky Love Mode. If not for that, wouldn’t it have been some ordinary quiz or something instead?

Whatever the case, it had already happened, and Sejun also understood that a kiss was reasonable enough. It was not even some monumental first kiss.

So then why did it feel so miserable?

As he felt a wave of grief rose again, Sejun hunched his body.

He knew well enough why he was like this. He was miserable. For many tangled reasons.

He was miserable because he had been forced into a kiss by Lee Dohun’s strength. He was miserable because of that Lucky Love Mode that came with this so-called mission to save the world, and he could not figure out why it had assigned a mission with Lee Dohun instead of Cha Dogyeong.

He was not some buoy thrown about by waves, so how could he not feel bitter when everyone around treated him as something easy to toy with?

Cha Dogyeong was one thing! There was a mission with him! It was supposed to benefit him, and though he could not understand the idea that sleeping with him could save the world, at least he had accepted it!

But Lee Dohun?

“…Ngh.”

Sejun grabbed a cushion from the sofa and started crying in earnest.

He thought, technically it was the easier path and it was not even his first kiss, so he could just play it cool. But in reality his chest felt so clogged he could hardly breathe.

He had been as powerless as a dwarf before a giant, unable to resist at all. He had not even been able to fight back against the man who forced a kiss on him. And the Lucky Love Mode, which he had believed would only activate in his relationship with Cha Dogyeong, had suddenly activated there!

Cha Dogyeong would have made some sense, but Lee Dohun? Why did it show up there? Why did a kiss happen there?

As he kept crying in silence, Sejun suddenly realized what he had just thought “Cha Dogyeong would have been different.”

“……”

Cha Dogyeong would have been different?

Even if Lucky Love Mode activated, if it was with Cha Dogyeong, was that supposed to be fine? Was that really okay?

Sejun immediately stopped crying. The thought that had just popped into his head felt strange beyond belief.

Was Cha Dogyeong really okay?

They had only gotten a little closer because of forced missions. The few times the atmosphere between them had turned odd were only because of Lucky Love Mode.

So why, like a lock suddenly undone, was he thinking it was fine if it was him?

At that moment the phone rang.

“Ah, damn.”

Startled, Sejun flinched. Normally a phone call would not have fazed him, but with his nerves on edge, even that sound shocked him.

Who was it at this time?

The list of possible callers was short. His mom maybe… but when Sejun checked the phone he froze like stone.

[Cha Dogyeong]

He was calling at the worst possible time.

If it could be called a milestone, this was the very first time Cha Dogyeong had personally called Sejun.

He did not have to answer.

A phone call was something you only picked up if you were in a position to. So if he was not, if he was anxious, then wasn’t it fine to refuse?

From that perspective, rejecting the call at this moment was not a bad option.

But Sejun pressed the answer button without hesitation.

“…what?”

Because he had been crying into the cushion just moments ago, his voice was hoarse and miserably broken.

Hearing his own voice, Sejun shuddered. It was worse than he had imagined. Anyone could tell he had been crying, not just a hunter with sharp hearing.

-What is this?

Of course Cha Dogyeong could not miss it.

-Seo Sejun, why are you crying?

He should have said he wasn’t. But the moment he heard Cha Dogyeong’s voice through the receiver, Sejun instead felt grief bubbling up in his chest again.

You bastard. When it came down to it, wasn’t it all because of you?

Even knowing it was not Cha Dogyeong’s fault, he couldn’t help but accuse him. His reason barely managed to hold back the impulse to say it aloud.

Cha Dogyeong knew nothing. He did not know this was inside a finished novel, that he and Sejun were originally supposed to be the protagonists who ended up together. He did not know that only by clearing the main mission could this world continue to exist.

So.

“Hng.”

Sejun cried like a child.

He knew it was pathetic for a grown man, he knew Cha Dogyeong was not guilty of anything, but the moment he heard his voice, all the grief exploded.

While Sejun hiccuped and cried, Cha Dogyeong did not hang up. He stayed silent for a long time.

-Seo Sejun, are you at home?

Sejun could not answer right away. After some time he barely whispered, “Yeah.” He didn’t know whether that word reached Cha Dogyeong clearly or not. He only felt miserable.

He should have asked why he called. He should have asked why he was asking if he was home. But no words came out.

-Got it.

And the call ended abruptly.

“……?”

Still crying, Sejun realized the call had ended and made a dumbfounded face. Was this guy insane?

“Why why did you call…”

And he cried even harder.

Sejun could not hold back his gloom, he sniffled and buried his head in the sofa like an ostrich.

He kept crying like that for a long time. How much time had passed?

The sound of a doorbell rang.

Sejun lifted his head.

To exaggerate only a little, aside from deliverymen, the only people who ever came to his house were his parents. Well, sometimes people came for apartment maintenance or water purifier inspection.

But he was in no mood to let anyone inside, so Sejun planned to ask whoever it was to leave for today.

If only it had not been Cha Dogyeong’s face that appeared on the intercom screen.

“……?”

Sejun rubbed his eyes.

But even then, Cha Dogyeong did not disappear from the screen. Was this some kind of hacking?

[Normally it would make more sense to think that Hunter Cha Dogyeong is actually outside the door, don’t you think?]

The system, which had only been dropping wet wipes or something on his head as comfort until now, spoke up for the first time in a while.

Sejun opened his mouth too but sound came out, it was more like he just gaped.

“Why…?”

[I don’t know.]

Sejun was genuinely flustered and did not know what to do. But since Cha Dogyeong had come all the way here, it was not like he would vanish like a feather. Sejun hurried toward the front door.

When he flung it open, just as the system said, Cha Dogyeong was standing there.

It was real.

…It was really Cha Dogyeong.

When Sejun froze, still holding the doorknob, Cha Dogyeong looked him up and down and frowned.

“How, how did you know my home address?”

When Sejun asked the most basic question, Cha Dogyeong let out a small sigh.

“I asked the Association, they told me.”

“……”

How worthless was his personal information?

As Sejun lamented once again at how light his privacy weighed, Cha Dogyeong spoke.

“How long are you going to leave me outside? Are you not going to let me in?”

The way he said, “I came all the way here,” carried the clear assumption that Sejun would naturally let him in.

“……”

Of course, Sejun himself had visited Cha Dogyeong’s home twice already, so he had no real excuse to refuse him now.

More than that, he did not really want to push Cha Dogyeong away and be alone either.

Only then did Sejun realize. While he had been crying alone all this time, what he had most wanted was not anything else, but someone warm who could understand his heart and comfort him.

But because there was no such person, not even his parents nearby, he had only been grieving alone.

The moment he saw Cha Dogyeong, the moment he realized why he was standing before him now, the wave of sorrow that he felt proved it.

He felt sadder now than when he had stumbled out of the dungeon crying alone.

Tears dripped down his face, he did not know exactly how pitiful he looked, but he was sure it was not a pretty sight. But controlling his body’s reactions was impossible.

Cha Dogyeong watched him quietly for a moment as Sejun’s big teardrops fell. Then he sighed briefly and wrapped an arm around Sejun’s waist, lifting him up.

“Uh…”

Sejun held his thick neck so he would not fall. He did it instinctively, but it was not a completely unfamiliar position.

When he was with Cha Dogyeong in the assimilated dungeon, Sejun had also clung to him crying, holding him like this. Like a child latching onto an adult.

No matter how much bigger Cha Dogyeong was, the difference was only about ten centimeters! Of course, if the system heard this thought, it would say, ‘That sounds like a big difference to me, Sejun-nim.’

But Cha Dogyeong treated it like nothing at all, and he patted Sejun’s backside. Just like that time.

“Why are you crying?”

“……”

“Seo Sejun, why are you crying?”

Huh?

Behind the man who asked again, the heavy front door closed and the door lock clicked shut.