VSP 70

After that the two of them didn’t have any great conversation until all that food was emptied.

Maybe because of that, Cha Dogyeong fell into thought about how this moment came to him, where he came all the way down to Bucheon and was filling his stomach with the food prepared by Seo Sejun’s mother at the shop run under Seo Sejun’s name.

There was no such thing as coincidence, and everything was Dogyeong’s will.

He wanted to get involved in Seo Sejun’s work, and he wanted to comfort Seo Sejun, and he didn’t want Seo Sejun to suffer alone, and he just wanted to be with him.

He didn’t yet know what kind of emotion these feelings would eventually connect to.

What was certain was that just like he had done with Jang Eunho, he was only doing what he wanted to do.

Within a range where Seo Sejun wouldn’t be hurt.

When the bowls were almost empty, Seo Sejun, who had a face a little more calm than usual, opened his mouth out of the silence.

“My mom cooked well.”

It began with those words.

“She worked in restaurants for seventeen years, I think. But my dad caught the business disease, and since he didn’t have the means to do anything great, he tried this and that and ended up with a lot of debt.”

It was a common story. A mother skilled with her hands, and a father who wasn’t particularly capable in business.

“My mom’s wish was to have her own shop, but she never even managed that, and she only worked herself to death in other people’s houses. Then when I awakened as a Hunter, the only thing I barely managed to do for her was this shop. I told my mom that even if it failed it was fine, because I thought with her cooking skills there was no way she would fail, and in fact it did well. People said it did better than most franchise restaurants.”

For a mother who had a successful Hunter son, her wish was modest. She chose to work rather than rest leaning on her son.

“After that my dad dropped the business disease and got along well with my mom, so now if I just settle down, it should be fine.”

Sejun sighed as he finished speaking.

“……”

Seo Sejun hadn’t settled down? That couldn’t be.

Any son who could give his parents a decent two-story building in a busy district would be called a successful person. He would also be praised as a filial son.

But like the incident that just happened on the first floor, the problem was the world’s gaze that casually dismissed Sejun and looked down on him.

Sejun had a dark face as if it was a shock that he had shown himself being ignored by others so openly right in front of his mother, and Cha Dogyeong felt his insides churn.

Dogyeong tapped his thigh with his hand.

Seo Sejun was proud. He had leaned on Cha Dogyeong a few times, but that was only because Dogyeong was right in front of him who could solve the immediate situation, not because he exposed his gloom.

Because of that, it wasn’t a good sign that he revealed his feelings to no one else but Cha Dogyeong.

…I’ll have to push, Jang Eunho. Cha Dogyeong came to that conclusion.

At that timing, Jang Eunho, the owner of Hun Shop who was busy in his workshop making items, suddenly trembled all over and shouted, “Ugh, what the hell!” but Dogyeong, who had no way of knowing that, only said.

“Seo Sejun.”

“Yeah?”

“This is good.”

When he ate even the leftover tteokbokki and boiled eggs, the amazing eating show ended.

Unlike Sejun, who had been aghast that it was too much, all the bowls on the table were empty. Even for two grown men, it seemed almost impossible.

“…Yeah.”

Seo Sejun smiled at Dogyeong with a look that seemed quite happy.

“I told you my mom cooks well.”

Right? At that moment, Seo Sejun’s smiling face was engraved in Cha Dogyeong’s retina.

For no reason his heart trembled too.

At that time even the great Cha Dogyeong didn’t notice what that meant.

•••

In the end Cha Dogyeong also greeted Sejun’s father.

Sejun’s father came staggering back to the shop almost dead drunk, and when he saw Cha Dogyeong he gasped and pretended to be fine as he suddenly reached for a handshake, and that was the funny point of that moment.

After the reeking handshake ended, Sejun’s mother packed up a food box about three times the usual amount she gave her son and handed it over.

“This is for Hunter Cha Dogyeong, and this is for you.”

“You usually eat a lot, so give Hunter Cha Dogyeong this much!” she said, and Dogyeong’s share was more than twice Sejun’s.

Since he was such a big eater that he could finish that much food, and since he had emptied the dishes clean, which pleased the one who cooked, Sejun’s mother’s eyes on Dogyeong were warm.

Sejun pouted his lips.

“Mom, you don’t even see your son anymore?”

“You usually eat a lot. Hunter Cha Dogyeong might not come again anytime soon.”

Sejun shut his mouth. It wasn’t that he accepted his mother’s reason, but he was at a loss for an answer to the possibility that Cha Dogyeong might come to their house again someday.

Would Cha Dogyeong come to their house again? Could that really happen? He doubted it, but since today’s visit had been completely unexpected, he couldn’t certainly say it would never happen.

Because it was a weekday evening, the road back up to Seoul was jammed. Cha Dogyeong kept grinning as he looked at the doll hanging from the middle of his passenger seat belt and asked, “What’s this one’s name?” and Sejun, feeling a little embarrassed, only blushed before answering, “KuXmi.”

“Go on in.”

Only after they entered the underground parking lot of the apartment did the two finally part ways. Cha Dogyeong, who had carefully carried the food packed by Sejun’s mother without forgetting, and was heading toward his MayXbach, suddenly turned back toward Sejun as something came to mind.

“Sejun-hyung.”

Sejun flinched. He had only said not to call him that at the table earlier, so Cha Dogyeong wasn’t exactly breaking a rule Sejun had suddenly made. But that form of address still tickled his ears, and made his heart pound.

“What?”

Sejun forced himself to reply calmly. But it didn’t last long.

“Won’t you give me a good night kiss?”

“…Are you seriously insane?”

He didn’t seem to actually want a kiss, and when Sejun reacted in disgust Dogyeong laughed, “Haha!” and got in his car and disappeared.

Good night kiss, Sejun beat his chest with his fist because his heart was thumping for no reason.

Even though they had been alone together all day for quite a while, Dogyeong hadn’t once mentioned last night, and then when it was finally time to part, suddenly talking about good night kisses, what the hell was he thinking?

Cha Dogyeong was impossible to figure out.

He had always been like that, but lately even more so. Sejun picked up the food his mother had packed for him and headed to his house.

Maybe because there had been so many incidents in a single night, there was no memory of that kiss with Lee Dohun that had tormented him left in Sejun’s head.

More precisely.

Even if he tried to recall the kiss with Lee Dohun, the face of Cha Dogyeong begging him for a kiss came up first as it covered over that memory.

It wasn’t a light peck, but a deep and heavy kiss that he was out of breath when it ended, and remembering that he had even climbed onto Dogyeong’s thighs like they were lovers in their prime made his cheeks heat up, so since he couldn’t keep recalling it anyway, the pain of that day faded.

So, when a few more days had passed.

“Ryu Sehyun: Since all group raids are done, we’ll rotate teams again.”

A general notice from Ryu Sehyun arrived. They would rotate the teams again.

Whatever happened, nothing could be worse than Lee Dohun, and since Sejun had already tasted the worst with Lee Dohun, he felt confident he wouldn’t be too shaken no matter who his teammate was.

And the new team was.

“Team 2. Ryu Sehyun, Seo Sejun.”

For Sejun this was one of the very best options. His face brightened when he checked the team.

And when he checked below, his expression changed.

“Team 3. Cha Dogyeong, Lee Dohun.”

That pairing.

For an A-rank dungeon those two alone were more than enough. But if it already felt obvious their pair would creak, was that just a feeling?

“Ryu Sehyun: I’ll be in your care, Sejun.”

But that feeling was soon forgotten with the private message that came right after. Sejun smirked and replied.

“Yeah, me too.”

•••

If you asked hunters what dungeons they hated most, usually the top answer was the type with nowhere to step.

Even an S-rank hunter who could float through the sky would face restrictions compared to land, and there would be needless mana drain too.

If you picked the worst among them, it would be places where the ground was covered with materials like lava that must not be touched, or underwater dungeons where your movement was limited in every way.

This dungeon was the latter.

Na Yookyung took a deep breath and plunged into the clear water that looked like the sea.

“Ugh, seriously!”

This time her teammate Jeong Siwoo made a disgusted face at the seawater that was both salty and cold unlike Na Yookyung’s boldness, and in the end he closed his eyes and dived down.