Free Web NovelAs soon as I stepped inside, the first thing I saw again was Joo Seowon.
“Seowon, are you a dog? Why are you always waiting right in front of the door like this.”
“Why the hell did you go in there again, you crazy bastard! You said you wouldn’t!”
“Deja vu. Feels like this has happened before.”
“Hey!”
I’d gotten so used to Joo Seowon’s freak-outs that even this was something I could take as almost welcome.
Grinning, I shoved aside Joo Seowon—who looked ready to grab me by the collar at any moment.
“Yehyun.”
“Hyung, I’m here.”
Only then, at the voice I heard, I turned my head and saw Do Yehyun standing quietly.
“You hurt anywhere?”
“Of course I am. I took a potion, but I still need treatment.”
“You’re hurt?”
“Yeah. I was right on the verge of dying from shock.”
“What? Where are you hurt.”
I looked at Joo Seowon for a moment, then lightly kneaded the back of his neck with my hand. Maybe because the touch was sudden, Joo Seowon flinched.
“Seowon, let’s talk in a bit.”
“...In a bit?”
“I told you, I’m hurting.”
I brought the hand that had been on his neck up and lightly tapped his cheek with the back of it. Joo Seowon, looking like he had a lot to say, barely nodded.
“Yehyun.”
When I called Do Yehyun, he followed me obediently, like he’d been waiting.
The moment we went into the room and I shut the door, Do Yehyun’s words poured out.
“What about the Haeseong Guild Master?”
“I came up to the front in Im Haekyung’s car.”
“I don’t like that person.”
“Yeah. I seriously considered crashing the car on the way.”
Do Yehyun stared at me quietly, then reached out and grabbed near my wrist. As the familiar Skill spread through my body, I felt the faint, lingering pain fade.
“Feels better. Thanks?”
“Hyung.”
“Im Haekyung shoved me in on purpose. To check something.”
“What would they check. They already know you’re a beast-fusion Hunter.”
“Something else.”
“.......”
Even after the Skill ended, Do Yehyun didn’t let go of the hand holding me. Instead, after a long silence, he asked something else.
“Are you going to keep being close with the Haeseong Guild Master?”
“Close?”
“I know that person is very useful. But the risk is too big. This time... you really could have died. And I wasn’t next to you.”
Do Yehyun’s voice was still calm.
“You mad?”
“I’m not angry at you, hyung.”
“At Im Haekyung?”
“.......”
After saying that, Do Yehyun quietly looked down at his palm, where the wound still remained, then drew it closer and pressed his lips to it. I watched him kiss beside the injured spot, then grabbed his face in my hand and let go.
“Right. I have no reason to be angry at you.”
“Then why are you taking it out on me.”
“Because the Haeseong Guild Master isn’t here.”
“You got mad in front of Im Haekyung too?”
“If that person talks to me, I don’t answer.”
That’s some nerve. An S-rank Guild Master talks to him and he just keeps his mouth shut.
Imagining that situation made me grin, and Do Yehyun’s expression cracked slightly.
“...I may not have a reason to be angry at you, but if you don’t go anywhere, things like this don’t happen.”
So what, you’re going to lock me in the house? Hell of an ambition.
I stared into Do Yehyun’s eyes for a moment, then changed the subject.
“Did you go into the Dungeon okay while I was gone?”
“Yes. There were no additional deployments after that. I said I wouldn’t go. The clear was... easy.”
“Want to get your rank corrected?”
“I’m not sure yet. But if I do... I think I’ll end up going into too many other high-rank Dungeons alone.”
“Good experience.”
“I came here to treat you, hyung. Other things don’t really matter.”
The words came out without even a hint of hesitation. I snorted and brushed my finger lightly over Do Yehyun’s cheek.
“Blind devotion.”
“You like it.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you... going to Seowon-hyung?”
“Yeah.”
I slid the hand that had been stroking his cheek slightly back and slowly traced along his jaw. Do Yehyun lowered his gaze and quietly watched my hand. From the slightly higher angle I was looking down at him, his dense eyelashes caught my eye.
“Did you do okay while I was gone?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“I just thought about you. Worried about you... and just you.”
“.......”
Do Yehyun lifted his gaze again and stared straight at me.
“Do you think Guild Master Song will die?”
“You saw the news? That was fast.”
“It’s not even fast. It was already... incredibly loud. The news, the articles, inside SH.”
“Well.... I don’t know. I think she will, but sometimes I’m wrong.”
Do Yehyun overlapped his hand over the back of mine and nodded calmly.
“Okay.”
“That’s it?”
“I saw that you came back alive... so I don’t care.”
“You should be sad.”
When I said it like a rebuke, Do Yehyun asked back with a strange look.
“Are you sad, hyung?”
Sad? Well, if you ask it like that, not really.
“I don’t know.”
“.......”
“What do you think my mood is.”
Do Yehyun had said before that I looked like I was in a good mood, or a bad one.
I already knew from context—and from his own mouth—that he was observing me. Then how did my mood look to Do Yehyun?
I’d finally faced Kwon Taehan, whom I’d waited for so long. Even if all that happened was getting grabbed by the collar and threatened.
‘Thinking about it makes me laugh....’
Don’t ever appear in front of him again? That wasn’t possible. No matter what happened from now on, I’d inevitably stand out to him.
Do Yehyun watched me quietly, then answered in an even voice.
“I don’t really know either.” fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
“You’re usually good at this.”
“.......”
I laughed low and ran my hand through Do Yehyun’s hair. Naturally, he closed his eyes. I caught his chin, tilted it up slightly, then turned my head and brushed my lips lightly against his.
At the reflexive push of his tongue, I huffed a laugh and bit down gently—just enough not to hurt—and his lips parted a little more.
He’d openly closed his eyes to receive the kiss, but at some point I felt his gaze fixed on me again. Feeling that gaze, I deliberately kept my eyes closed and focused on kissing him.
When I pulled his tongue in and nipped at it lightly with my teeth, his body trembled faintly—maybe from the sting.
‘He acts like it’s natural to cling to me after I come back from a Dungeon....’
Seeing him open his mouth eagerly to take whatever kiss I gave made it feel like a habit by now. Even when I deliberately rummaged rougher inside his mouth and bit his tongue a little, Do Yehyun didn’t pull away.
I drew back and slowly stroked his neck with my thumb, then asked,
“Like it?”
“...Yes.”
“It’s been a while since we kissed, I forgot how.”
“.......”
As I pulled back with that nonsense, Do Yehyun grabbed my collar. I watched his hand cover a soot-stained spot, then only shifted my gaze and arched a brow.
“Then should we do more?”
He sounded faintly breathless—maybe out of breath, maybe just expectant. I gently removed his hand and curved my lips.
“No.”
“.......”
“I’ve got a lot to do....”
I tilted my head and pressed a kiss near his cheek, just off his lips, then let go of his wrist.
“Rest, then go to your room.”
I finished speaking and immediately left the room again.
Joo Seowon, who’d been in the living room just before, wasn’t in sight—maybe he’d gone into his room on his own. Without hesitation, I opened his door.
“Coming in?”
“You’re going to barge in anyway, so why even ask—”
It wasn’t the bed but Joo Seowon standing awkwardly in the middle of the room that caught my eye.
“Did you hear from Yehyun?”
“...From Do Yehyun? About what?”
Well.
‘Looks like he doesn’t know the details.’
True enough—Do Yehyun didn’t really share things about me with Joo Seowon unless I asked him to first.
I nodded once and spoke right away.
“I didn’t go in on my own. Im Haekyung dragged me.”
“...Im Haekyung? That crazy bastard?”
“You’re stating the obvious. Of course they’re crazy.... Did they look sane to you?”
“What?”
Seeing Joo Seowon rev up beside me like he might blow up any second, I pulled one corner of my mouth crookedly.
“More importantly, did you check the articles?”
“What articles. ...Song Hwayoung?”
“That too.”
“...She’s alive.”
Joo Seowon, who looked ready to pour out words any second, was unexpectedly quiet. Maybe he’d read quite a few articles about Song Hwayoung’s condition, because he didn’t ask for details.
‘Even if he did, it’d be awkward to answer.’
Joo Seowon stared at the floor like he was thinking about something, then lifted his head a beat # Nоvеlight # late.
“...What’s the other thing?”
“There’s someone I need to look into.”
“Who?”
Right.... How should I put this?
I smiled and answered slowly.
“The person I’ve been waiting for.”
