VSP 87

“Sejun-hyung?”

Jeong Siwoo, who had no idea how Seo Sejun and Cha Dogyeong had been getting along lately, opened his eyes wide as he heard the overly familiar tone but still followed Cha Dogyeong toward the two.

Only then did both of them turn their eyes toward Cha Dogyeong and Jeong Siwoo. Considering how sensitive an S-rank hunter’s senses were, they should have noticed their presence long before they came this close, no matter how many people were around. It seemed they had been lost in thought and only now realized they were there.

“When did you get here?”

“For a while.”

Cha Dogyeong smiled and turned his gaze from Seo Sejun to Lee Dohun.

The two only looked at each other without greeting.

Their blank, emotionless eyes showed nothing toward each other, neither good nor bad.

After staring at Lee Dohun for a while, Cha Dogyeong looked back at Seo Sejun.

“Did something happen?”

“Ah.”

Seo Sejun, who had been watching the two with a nervous expression, shook his head.

“Nothing happened.”

“I heard Lee Yongseok’s name.”

“…Where did you hear that?”

Seo Sejun scratched the back of his head with a frustrated look, as if he didn’t know where to start explaining.

“He….just, he talked to me, and then Lee Dohun suddenly interfered.”

“He lost it?”

“Hey, you bastard, Cha Dogyeong.”

Lee Dohun, who had been silently listening to Seo Sejun’s explanation, said angrily. Seo Sejun waved his hand, denying it.

“No, not at me.”

“Hey, Seo Sejun. Are you saying I lost it then?”

“You usually do. Anyway, you did it to Lee Yongseok.”

Lee Dohun looked ready to shout again but didn’t say more.

Even after hearing the explanation, Jeong Siwoo couldn’t understand well. It was normal for Lee Yongseok to pick a fight with Seo Sejun. But it didn’t make sense that Lee Dohun had stepped in against Lee Yongseok.

Why would Lee Dohun do that? He might start a fight, but he wouldn’t help Seo Sejun.

“He picked a fight again? Like Lee Dohun?”

“Hey.”

Lee Dohun looked like he was about to explode again, but by now no one cared about his reaction.

“Not really, we didn’t talk much. Lee Dohun just cut in all of a sudden.”

Seo Sejun hesitated for a long time, as if he couldn’t find the right word, then finally managed to find one after thinking.

“…He helped.”

Right after he said that,

“Huh? Siwoo.”

At the sound of his name, Jeong Siwoo turned around. As soon as he turned, his heart started racing.

Choi Yerin and Choi Hangyeol. The Choi siblings.

…And Ryu Sehyun stood there too. Jeong Siwoo placed his fingertips on his chest when his heart suddenly skipped a beat, but unlike Choi Yerin, who greeted him brightly, Choi Hangyeol and Ryu Sehyun didn’t focus on him.

“Dohun, are you bothering Sejun-hyung again?”

“Lee Dohun.”

Choi Hangyeol and Ryu Sehyun aimed straight at Lee Dohun. Anyone could tell that if Seo Sejun and Lee Dohun were together, it was obvious Lee Dohun was being unpleasant to him.

But Lee Dohun felt wronged.

“No, not this time!”

‘This time.’

“Damn it.”

Even he realized he had just admitted why everyone talked about him that way. He closed his eyes and opened them again.

“Ha, everyone only gives me crap.”

Ryu Sehyun raised an eyebrow at Lee Dohun’s rough words but didn’t reply.

“Nothing happened. Actually, Lee Dohun helped a bit.”

In the end, Sejun had to step in and defend him. Even while saying it, he couldn’t help but feel like he was defending Lee Dohun.

At that, everyone looked at Lee Dohun with the kind of gaze people gave when they saw something bizarre.

Lee Dohun looked ready to shout in anger again, but this time he just clicked his tongue and turned his head instead of arguing.

Ryu Sehyun’s gaze shifted to Lee Dohun and Cha Dogyeong standing together.

“You two…”

“We know.”

“We know.”

They both immediately answered before he could start lecturing.

They didn’t really look at each other, but their relationship didn’t seem so bad that they would start snarling if they made eye contact. In some way, both of them were overly cool about it.

Ryu Sehyun looked at the two like he was watching much younger kids who fought too often and let out a small sigh.

Choi Hangyeol, who had been watching the scene with a constant smile, lightly tapped Seo Sejun’s arm.

“Sejun-hyung.”

“Huh?”

“You’re here for the exam too?”

“Yeah.”

Sejun still had a dazed look, the situation didn’t feel real. And it really didn’t.

It wasn’t strange for Lee Yongseok to pick a fight with him, that part was the same as always. But before, no one cared when Lee Yongseok picked fights.

Yet this time, for the first time, someone had stepped in. And it was Lee Dohun of all people.

And somehow, Sejun, who usually stayed far from the hunter crowd, was now standing in the center of a group of S-rank hunters.

That was even more strange.

“Everyone’s diligent. You came on the first day.”

“If I didn’t, you’d keep spamming texts. It’s easier to just come than deal with that.”

“Lee Dohun, you always talk like that.”

Choi Yerin pointed out Lee Dohun’s harsh tone.

Everyone had mixed looks at his unexpected behavior, but Choi Hangyeol alone kept smiling at him. Lee Dohun frowned, annoyed by that smile.

“Anyway, we’re all heading to the same place. How about we go together?”

Hangyeol suggested it. It was something no one had reason to refuse. Everyone nodded. Their destination was the same anyway, so moving separately would’ve been pointless.

Once they decided to move together, everyone naturally began to walk around Seo Sejun.

Sejun blinked, startled, and let out an awkward “Huh?” but no one else seemed to find it odd.

Jeong Siwoo, who had been staring the whole time, felt his expression grow colder and colder.

He didn’t understand what he was seeing.

Just a few months ago, things hadn’t been like this.

Everyone ignored Seo Sejun. They stayed away from him. They thought keeping their distance was normal. The only one who sometimes approached him was Sehyun-hyung. Most others avoided him, even disliked him.

Then what was this now?

“Siwoo, what are you doing?”

While everyone moved naturally without looking back, only Choi Yerin turned toward Jeong Siwoo.

Her puzzled gaze met his stiff expression, and he forced himself to smile.

“…Yeah.”

He couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he barely managed a weak reply. He couldn’t tell what kind of expression he had right now.

He had never liked Seo Sejun.

To be honest, he had disliked him. How could he like the person the one he liked had feelings for?

But until now, it had been fine. Even if Ryu Sehyun had some feelings for Seo Sejun, Siwoo was certain that Sehyun would never confess.

More than that, everyone looked down on Seo Sejun. Everyone hated him. No one wanted to be close to him. Who would like that clumsy fool, that troublesome idiot?

But unlike him, everyone was kind to me.

That sense of superiority had always made him overlook Seo Sejun’s existence.

Yet at that moment, even though his position wasn’t threatened or lowered, Jeong Siwoo felt like he was being pushed down from somewhere high by Seo Sejun’s presence.

He hated Seo Sejun.

The petty dislike that had once been no more than the impulse to toss away the lemonade someone had offered him out of pity now began to grow roots. The feeling turned into a deeper, burning hatred.

At that moment, Jeong Siwoo started to hate Seo Sejun to death.

•••

“Haa.”

After a long and exhausting day, Choi Yerin collapsed on her bed. She had already washed up, but there were still too many things left to apply on her face. The health check disguised as a full medical exam had drained her so much that even with her strong stamina, she was completely worn out.

Ah, but my skin feels tight. I have to put something on, ugh.

She dragged herself up, applied some lotion and fell into thought.

About what had happened today.

It had felt like an oddly long day. The volunteer work had made it longer, but even from the morning, there had been too many things.

Seeing the doll in Seo Sejun’s passenger seat, deciding to talk to him, seeing Lee Dohun and Cha Dogyeong together, but strangely, with Seo Sejun standing between them, the atmosphere hadn’t felt so austere. Everyone had somehow moved naturally around Seo Sejun…

Her sensitive nature since childhood had made her quick to notice things, and her good memory let her connect details easily.

Of course, the moment she saw that doll, she recognized it at once as the one Cha Dogyeong had won.