VSP 78

Ah, I didn’t bring any underwear.

Just after washing up and drying his hair in the bathroom, Dogyeong belatedly realized he’d followed his usual habit of coming in empty-handed and showering first.

Living in a detached house and being so used to being alone, plus disliking the heat, meant Dogyeong generally hated leaving the steamy bathroom after washing without something to wear.

So, since there was no one to see him anyway, he wasn’t the type to bother bringing clothes into the bathroom.

But there was someone else here now.

“…Hmm.”

What to do? Should he ask Sejun outside to bring him some underwear? No, wait. How would he even know where his underwear was? Given Sejun’s personality, asking him to bring underwear would probably make him blush and get angry. Of course, even then, he’d just look adorable, trembling like a Chihuahua.

After roughly drying off, Dogyeong pondered briefly, but his deliberation didn’t last long.

He reached the conclusion that there was no need to make a big fuss. They were both men anyway.

But out of basic courtesy, he wrapped a large towel around his waist, shook his hair vigorously, and stepped outside.

Sejun, who was outside, seemed to be watching TV; the sound of it could be heard. It was a program introducing the homes of celebrities and famous personalities.

Cha Dogyeong had once received an offer to appear on that very show, but he had declined without hesitation.

The reason was simple. Just imagining inviting someone into his home, especially with a whole film crew coming in, was exhausting.

But why had he accepted that guy coming to his place without any burden?

It was a confusing thought even now, but the moment passed quickly. Even if he could turn back time, Dogyeong would likely welcome Sejun’s visit just as gladly.

Sejun didn’t seem particularly engrossed in the program either. His blank face stared vacantly at the TV screen until the sound of the bathroom door opening made him slowly turn his head to the side.

Their eyes met, and Sejun’s pupils trembled.

From Sejun’s perspective, this was the last thing he needed. His mind was already in turmoil from his conversation with the system, and he’d been trying to calm his chaotic thoughts by watching the noisy celebrities on TV. Now, Cha Dogyeong appeared, stirring his heart instead of his head.

And he was practically naked.

“Hey, Cha Dogyeong!”

Sejun bellowed, his face flushing crimson as he scowled at the nearly naked Dogyeong.

But Dogyeong felt a bit wronged too. He scowled back.

“Why?”

“Why? Why?”

Sejun raised his voice in disbelief.

Why? His face, asking back without even knowing what the problem was, looked like he genuinely didn’t know what he’d done wrong. Sejun found Dogyeong’s attitude even more ridiculous.

Don’t you know this is the problem? Sejun yelled.

“You should’ve put some clothes on, you crazy bastard!”

Stammering, Sejun flung the remote control he was holding onto the opposite sofa. In the process, he must have accidentally pressed a button, because the channel switched to a home shopping channel promoting things like pork cutlets on a variety show. But that wasn’t important right now.

Did Sejun even realize that his feeble act of throwing the remote onto the sofa to avoid breaking someone else’s property was laughable, not threatening?

Though momentarily flustered by the intense reaction, Dogyeong, as always, feigned nonchalance. He chuckled softly, absentmindedly adjusting the knot of the towel tied around his waist as he approached Sejun.

“Seo Sejun, why did you get so startled?”

Dogyeong picked up the remote Sejun had tossed aside and pressed the power button. The noisy home shopping channel vanished, and a heavy silence filled the room.

The host’s laughter, which had been so cheerful while eating the delicious tteokgalbi, abruptly cut off. The murmurs died down, and stillness flowed.

The quiet made Sejun’s solitary, heavy breathing more audible.

A droplet fell from Dogyeong’s wet hair, sliding down his firm, angular shoulder. Sejun, who had unconsciously followed the droplet’s path with his eyes, flinched, before finally closing his eyes tightly.

“Lucky Love, damn it…”

Sejun muttered an incomprehensible curse toward Dogyeong. Before Dogyeong could ask what that meant, Sejun, his face still flushed, shouted.

“What are you, a kid? Why are you coming out naked like that!”

“…I’m wrapped in a towel. And this is my house.”

“Even so, why the striptease?!”

“I left my underwear behind.”

Each reason was actually quite valid. Even if there was an indescribable sexual tension between the two of them, wrapping a towel around his waist was, in Dogyeong’s view, doing all he could.

Sejun seemed to acknowledge this too, eventually finding no more words and shutting up.

By then, Dogyeong, who had been slightly flustered by Sejun’s intense reaction, had completely regained his composure. He smiled, his eyes twinkling.

“Why? Are you excited?”

At that, Sejun looked dumbfounded.

“Why would I be excited, you crazy bastard!”

Sejun vehemently denied it, but the person he was facing was none other than Cha Dogyeong. He clearly saw Sejun, who had been staring blankly as if mesmerized by the moisture on his own body.

“You can look some more.”

So he generously allowed it. He even went a step further with another suggestion.

“Want to touch it?”

“Hey, Cha Dogyeong!”

Of course, Sejun, clearly not thrilled by Dogyeong’s consideration, only got angry with a flushed face.

Pwahaha, unable to hold it in any longer, Dogyeong laughed loudly.

“Alright, alright. Don’t get mad.”

In the end, Dogyeong backed down first. If he pushed any further, Seo Sejun might genuinely lose his temper. There was no need to deal with a sulking Seo Sejun.

Dogyeong headed to his room to get dressed. Whether it was luck or misfortune, Dogyeong’s room was directly opposite the living room sofa, meaning they could see each other perfectly.

“Staring like that makes Dogyeong embarrassed.”

Sejun threw a sofa cushion at Dogyeong. It was a remark made on a whim, but it seemed Sejun really had been staring at him.

The cushion bounced off his back and rolled away, making him yelp unnecessarily. Of course, strictly speaking, it wasn’t Cha Dogyeong’s body that hurt, but the cushion that had hit his solid frame. At that moment, no one was paying attention to that detail.

•••

The silence in the house felt unbearably awkward, so Sejun couldn’t stand it. He picked up the remote he’d thrown and turned on the TV.

Of course, what he needed was noise, so he left the TV playing a mindless tteokgalbi mukbang show he had zero interest in and just sat there blankly. 

If he didn’t clear his mind, Cha Dogyeong’s body, wet and naked as he emerged from the bathroom, would keep replaying in his head.

Those broad shoulders, covered in practical muscles so solid you could almost feel their elasticity just by looking. Sejun, being a hunter himself, wasn’t exactly slacking on physical training, but this was a body of a different quality altogether.

In the past, such thoughts would have made him think, ‘Hmph, it’s because he’s the protagonist’ with a touch of resentment. But now, he simply felt admiration.

Considering that a high Hunter rank doesn’t mean physical conditions are at one’s command, it meant Cha Dogyeong was also constantly chiseling away at himself, again and again.

With moisture glistening on that body, his gaze naturally turned there. It wasn’t that he was particularly interested in the body itself.

Sejun, who had been trying hard to deny himself, stared at the pork cutlet on the TV screen.

Look delicious, look delicious, look so delicious I want to order it.

Of course, Sejun, who took considerable pride in his cooking, rarely bought commercially made tteokgalbi through online shopping, so it was ultimately just self-hypnosis.

“Hey, Sejun, let’s call it a night.”

Just as Sejun tried his hardest to empty his mind, Cha Dogyeong’s words, spoken while getting dressed, instantly disarmed him.

“…Am I staying the night?”

Sejun asked with a bewildered expression. He’d naturally planned to just drink the delivered beverages and leave, but Cha Dogyeong unexpectedly suggested staying the night.

Cha Dogyeong, however, raised an eyebrow at Sejun’s confusion, asking what nonsense he was talking about.

“So you’re going home at this hour?”

“Uh…”

It was quite late, after all. But Sejun’s question was reasonable enough.

But you told me to head home after a while when I first came to this place.

True, he had stayed over at Sejun’s place relatively recently, but that day was a bit of a special case… Though he had naturally come over to hang out, Sejun hadn’t expected him to stay the night and stammered, unsure how to respond.

“Ah, right.”

As if suddenly remembering, Dogyeong went back into the room, then returned holding something black in his hand.

Cha Dogyeong unfolded what he’d brought in front of Sejun. What is that? Sejun, puzzled, belatedly realized it was a very familiar-looking item, and that it was his own. He felt his face flush hot.

It was underwear. The underwear Sejun had borrowed from Cha Dogyeong that day, forgotten about, and left behind at Cha Dogyeong’s house after he went home.

The black boxers, looking freshly laundered and fluffy, stretched out flat in Cha Dogyeong’s hand.