VSP 91

No matter what, it would be impossible here now. Cha Dogyeong exhaled a sigh full of regret and answered.

“Whatever it is, it’s better if it tastes good.”

Without knowing what kind of lewd thought was circling in Dogyeong’s head, or feeling any sting on his tongue, Sejun continued eating the sweet churros and emptied several boxes.

Dogyeong stopped Sejun when he almost broke another safety bar on a ride, and before taking the next one, they ate. As he had boasted, Sejun paid proudly for the meal. The two of them moved again, busy heading toward more rides, as if they never got tired.

More precisely, Dogyeong was following behind Sejun, who bustled around from place to place.

Since Sejun looked quite happy, Dogyeong didn’t even think of stopping him.

After almost breaking two rides, Sejun finally chose ones that were quiet and far from thrilling. So the two could enjoy various attractions without much trouble, except for drawing attention like monkeys in a zoo.

They spent the whole day running around, making full use of their tickets, and when they finally started to think it might be time to go home, the sun was already setting.

Since it had come to this, they agreed to stay until the evening parade. Then, Sejun suddenly brought up a ride that they had passed several times during the day but that he hadn’t once looked at.

“Want to try this one?”

It was an unpopular attraction with a sign that said the entire ride had recently been remade.

<Haunted House. Experience true horror this summer!>

It wasn’t the same amusement park as before, so it wasn’t exactly identical, but the name told everything about what kind of ride it was.

Dogyeong looked at Sejun with surprised eyes.

“You hate this kind of thing.”

Dogyeong remembered how Sejun had panicked the last time they went to a haunted house. This wasn’t like someone being nervous about a slightly scary ride; it was on a whole different level.

And now Sejun was the one suggesting they go?

“It’s not like I suddenly like it.”

He paused and after a moment of hesitation, he closed his eyes and spoke quietly.

“If you hold my hand like last time… maybe it’ll be fine.”

“……”

Cha Dogyeong was too stunned to speak.

Ha, look at this.

He suddenly realized that Sejun was flirting. And it was ridiculous how he now avoided Dogyeong’s gaze as if embarrassed to death after saying it.

He had seemed so absorbed in the amusement park all day that Dogyeong thought he wasn’t aware of anything else, but apparently, he did realize this was a date.

“Sejun-hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re the one who seduced me first.”

Dogyeong grabbed his hand. No, he intertwined their fingers.

Sejun’s fingertips trembled, but he didn’t pull away from Dogyeong’s touch.

“Hyung, how does it feel to seduce an innocent younger guy?”

“Bullshit, innocent my ass.”

Sejun swore. Even Dogyeong thought it was nonsense. He was nowhere near an innocent younger guy.

If anything, Sejun, who flinched every time Dogyeong did something, fit that word much better.

Even now, the redness on his ears showed everything.

…I want to suck on them once.

Dogyeong swallowed that wicked thought and led Sejun toward the haunted house. Even though Sejun was the one who suggested it, he dragged his feet like a man walking to an execution ground.

There was no need to line up. Even though it had been remade, it seemed unpopular, because there wasn’t a single visitor around the haunted house.

But the courage Sejun had gathered for the sake of a proper flirt must have reached its limit at the entrance. As soon as he saw the dim interior and the blood-covered props inside, his face turned pale, and he clung tightly to Dogyeong.

He let go of their intertwined hands and wrapped both arms around Dogyeong’s waist instead.

“Ugh, fuck.”

Did he even realize that for a grown man like Dogyeong, being close like this was much more stimulating than holding hands? Judging by his current state, he probably didn’t.

“Why the hell do people make and enjoy this shitty stuff?”

You’re the one who said we should go in there together.

There was nothing in that haunted house worth trembling over.

Unlike the haunted house at other amusement parks, there were no staff members in makeup waiting to jump out. The fake blood, the props, and the mannequins looked somewhat realistic, but that was it. It was easy to understand why the ride wasn’t popular.

But even that was enough to make Sejun tremble like a leaf. If an S-rank Hunter, whose very existence was a weapon, got startled and hit one of the actors or caused a commotion, that would have been trouble, so maybe this ride was actually the right one for him.

Even so, he couldn’t enjoy it, and he couldn’t even walk properly.

“……”

Dogyeong looked down at Sejun’s hands. Like earlier, when he had grabbed the safety bar, Sejun’s knuckles had turned pale. Because of that desperate hold, their bodies were pressed together from chest to legs.

Sehyun was clinging to him with his whole body.

“Ha.”

They weren’t naked, but that alone was stimulating enough.

Dogyeong hesitated for a moment about what to do, since they weren’t exactly alone, but quickly realized that no one else had entered behind them because the ride was so unpopular. He called out to Sejun.

“Sejun-hyung.”

“What…”

“I want to kiss right now.”

If love was a competition and a game, then that was Dogyeong’s move.

After he said it, both of them fell silent. But it wasn’t an awkward silence. It was more like the deep breath before taking a difficult step.

Dogyeong heard Sejun swallow.

Even that sound was cute, and he was just starting to smile when Sejun spoke.

“Who, who do you mean?”

What the hell?

Dogyeong felt the rush of romantic heat he’d just built deflating like a punctured balloon.

Was he really that oblivious, or was he doing this on purpose?

Dogyeong’s voice naturally turned grumpy.

“Who else is here besides you? A ghost? A spirit?”

“Ah, stop it!”

At the mention of ghosts and spirits, Sejun snuggled even closer against Dogyeong’s back.

It was summer, and Dogyeong normally hated heat, so if it had been anyone else, he would have immediately pushed them away. But with Sehyun, he didn’t want to.

Clinging to Dogyeong’s back while shaking, Sehyun finally answered in a trembling voice.

“What, what are you even thinking?”

“What about it?”

“…Doing this with me.”

“Doing what with you?” Dogyeong thought of feigning ignorance for a second, but he decided not to. If he tried to back away, he would probably find himself meeting Sejun again on the other side of the planet.

“Well, I’m doing this because I don’t know either.”

“What?”

“I thought once today ended, everything would become clear.”

If someone asked if things had become clear at this moment, Dogyeong still wasn’t sure.

He liked Sejun. He was drawn to him. No, he was aroused by him. He had accepted that a while ago, so reacting to another man didn’t feel strange anymore. But it was risky to start everything based on that alone.

Both of them had too much to lose.

Their gender, their fame, their standing as Hunters, and the connections between them that were too complicated for something as simple as one brief romance.

Normally, Dogyeong would never have even tried to start a relationship this risky. It wasn’t as if a person would die from not dating someone. He had never liked anyone enough to risk everything for it.

And yet, even knowing that, he couldn’t bring himself to let go of Sejun, and he was still hesitating without reaching any conclusion.

Ah.

“Ha.”

Dogyeong placed a hand on his throbbing forehead. It was the sigh of someone who realized too late that the answer had already been there.

It had already been over the moment he started worrying about it.

He had already thrown himself into Sejun’s tank and had been pretending he was still floating in the sea.

He has already reached a conclusion, but he had kept pretending not to know.

Really, Dogyeong?

The moment he thought that, it was already done.

He was already wrapped tightly around Sejun and had no thought of escaping, but he had still been hesitating.

He felt like an idiot.