VSP 83

Everyone knew that Cha Dogyeong and Lee Dohun didn’t actually have a bad relationship. They weren’t close enough to be called friends, but they weren’t on bad enough terms to suddenly start fighting either.

Lee Dohun had tried several times to get closer, and since Cha Dogyeong hadn’t exactly rejected those attempts, it was fair to say their relationship leaned more toward good than bad.

Besides, even though Cha Dogyeong sometimes spoke harshly, he had a high threshold for anger.

He wasn’t the type to react to minor rudeness and usually ignored it completely. If someone like him had suddenly gotten that angry, then it made more sense to assume that Lee Dohun had really hit a nerve.

“This is just what I think.”

Along with that, Choi Hangyeol had his own suspicion.

“Don’t start.”

Lee Dohun tried to stop him because he could tell something unpleasant was about to come out of Hangyeol’s smiling mouth, but of course it didn’t work.

“It’s because of Sejun-hyung, right?”

“……”

As expected, Dohun’s tightly closed his mouth. Hangyeol let out a deep sigh.

He had never understood that part of Dohun. Lee Dohun wasn’t exactly known for being gentle or pleasant, but he wasn’t the kind to pick fights with people for no reason either.

Except when it came to Seo Sejun.

Only with Seo Sejun did Lee Dohun show his temper without restraint.

He called him useless, incompetent, a nuisance. He scolded him endlessly with all kinds of insults, and then sometimes he just said he couldn’t stand to even look at him, showing senseless disgust.

It was true that Seo Sejun had caused a lot of trouble, so it wasn’t completely impossible to understand Dohun’s feelings, but honestly, most people thought thar Lee Dohun went too far.

But even while they thought that, no one could step between them.

But now, things were different.

Now, everyone knew. That Lee Dohun’s constant hatred toward Seo Sejun was just stubborn pride.

“I don’t know what Cha Dogyeong thinks, but in this case, you’re mostly at fault.”

“Shit, Choi Hangyeol, shut up.”

“You’ve been way too harsh on Sejun-hyung for a long time.”

If this incident had happened because Seo Sejun was caught in the middle again, then it was most likely Dohun’s fault. That meant he must have messed with Sejun enough to annoy Dogyeong and push him to the point of getting angry.

At the same time, it meant that Seo Sejun’s weight in Dogyeong’s heart wasn’t light.

Hangyeol smiled as he remembered that day in Busan, when Dogyeong had wrapped his arms around Sejun and disappeared.

But he didn’t have the time to dwell on that now. Hangyeol continued without stopping.

“You need to drop that childish stubbornness already.”

“Hey, Choi Han…”

“I don’t know what’s going on, but everyone else’s moved on, and you’re the only one still stuck there.”

“……”

“Face what you need to face. Stop being so damn stubborn.”

As he said that, Hangyeol casually took a banana from the fruit basket beside him. He snapped off the stem and peeled it. Dohun stayed silent the entire time.

His face, filled with irritation, showed he didn’t fully agree with Hangyeol’s words, but it looked like he was thinking about them. He didn’t respond.

“This tastes good.”

Hangyeol said it calmly as he took a bite of the banana, and Dohun finally spoke.

“Choi Hangyeol, are you like that too?”

“Like what?”

“Do you have a thing for Seo Sejun too? Is that why you’re acting like this?”

Huh.

That was not the question Hangyeol had expected. He blinked.

“……”

“……”

Silence filled the hospital room.

At first, Dohun’s face was full of irritation, but slowly it turned confused, and by the end, he frowned like he was angry about something.

Hangyeol, for once, was at a loss for words. Not because he had nothing to say, but because it felt like he had just realized something shocking.

“Ah.”

After a long pause, what came out of Hangyeol’s mouth was neither agreement nor denial. With that vague sound, he rubbed his chin, and instead of answering the question, he asked another one.

“When you said ‘too,’ does that mean you have a thing for Seo Sejun too?”

He asked something else instead of answering, but Dohun wasn’t someone who’d let that slide.

“So you’re not denying it, huh?”

Hangyeol only smiled. He neither confirmed nor denied it. After smiling for a while, he finally opened his mouth.

“That’s because what you’re saying makes no sense.”

“Do I look blind to you?”

That meant his thoughts had been completely seen through. Choi Hangyeol tried to laugh it off with a “haha,” but by that point, Lee Dohun was already growling.

“And stop saying stupid crap. When I said ‘too,’ I was talking about Cha Dogyeong, not me.”

“Ah…”

So Cha Dogyeong was interested in Seo Sejun. Well, Hangyeol had thought he seemed different lately.

When Hangyeol only chewed on his banana with a lukewarm reaction, Dohun spoke faster, sounding even more irritated.

“Shit, the whole world’s a field full of homos.”

Even the usually laid-back Hangyeol couldn’t stay quiet after that.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something. It’s true I pay a lot of attention to him, but that doesn’t mean I’m interested in him that way.”

Huh, that sentence sounded a little off.

Hangyeol realized it himself right after saying it, and his face turned strange.

“Anyway, I’m not.”

“Bullshit.”

Of course, Dohun didn’t believe it. Hangyeol leaned back against the chair and looked at him as Dohun ruffled his bangs in frustration.

It was true that he was interested in Seo Sejun, but it wasn’t the kind of interest Dohun meant.

Seo Sejun was fascinating. For Hangyeol, who could hear people’s thoughts clearly, Seo Sejun was a very interesting person.

Even though Seo Sejun knew that Hangyeol could hear other people’s thoughts, he kept forgetting and often let his mind wander right in front of him. While most people felt afraid around someone who could read minds and avoided him, Seo Sejun never looked at him that way. His thoughts also moved in their own unique rhythm, different from everyone else’s.

Of course, before, because of that strange restriction he couldn’t understand, Hangyeol hadn’t been able to get close even if he found Sejun interesting. But now that it was gone.

So Hangyeol wanted to be friends with Seo Sejun. He wanted to get closer to that fascinating person.

He wanted to see him smile without any shadow. That was all Hangyeol wanted. He didn’t have the kind of interest Dohun was accusing him of.

It was all Dohun’s misunderstanding.

“Before, there was some kind of restriction that kept people from getting near Sejun-hyung, but now everyone around him seems to be acting on their own will.”

Including me.

When he added that, Dohun made a face that said, Of course. But Hangyeol didn’t bother correcting his misunderstanding.

He just smiled and said,

“Think about it, too.”

“About what?”

Hangyeol stood up, holding the banana peel and the wrappings from the fruit basket in his hand.

“What do you think.”

“…..?”

“Think about whether what you feel is really hate or not.”

Dohun flinched but Hangyeol didn’t check his expression. He just stood up, waved a casual bye, and left the hospital room.

Click.

Once he closed the door and stepped into the hallway, everything was quiet. Hardly anyone was hospitalized there to begin with, and since Dohun’s injuries were classified, there were even fewer people around. The corridor was empty and still.

Hangyeol hummed. For some reason, his steps were light. Not because he had left the fruit basket behind, but because he felt free, with nothing weighing on him.

And it had been fun.

Cha Dogyeong, Lee Dohun, and oh, Ryu Sehyun too.

But the most interesting one was still Seo Sejun.

As he walked through the empty hallway, Hangyeol pulled out his phone and typed a quick message. The recipient was obvious.

“Sejun-hyung, I just visited Lee Dohun in the hospital. He looks fine haha.”

If it was the Seo Sejun he knew, he’d probably reply with something like “So what,” or just ignore it.

A few seconds later, a notification popped up.

“Sejjunihyung: So what?”

Hangyeol smiled even after reading the blunt reply.

Yeah.

That’s exactly why I like you, hyung.

•••

That day, as always, Sejun was lying on the living room sofa doing nothing.

He had once loved using the hammock he’d installed, but he’d grown tired of it, so he ended up back on the sofa again.

These days, when he spaced out, all kinds of thoughts filled his head.

Naturally, most of those thoughts were about everything that had happened since he realized that this world was part of a novel.

His mana had recently reached one hundred eighty.

He noticed that a new sub-mission had appeared after he visited Cha Dogyeong’s house, and that was when the change began.