CH 39

When the Hunter Administration left, the guilds took over to clean up the scene. Following a guild agreement, Barricades were built around the portal to prevent people from entering and the rescued civilians were transported to the hospital.

“But I’m not hurt!”

Among them was Hyeon-woo. No matter how many times he said it was okay, Seon-woo showed no sign of backing down.

“Still, you can’t be sure.”

He came over and grabbed Hyeon-woo’s hand to persuade him.

“Hyung, I want you to go to the hospital. Please?”

“Ugh.”

When his younger brother asked him with the twinkle in his eyes, Hyeon-woo couldn’t refuse. Hyeon-woo and A-yun were persuaded by their respective brothers and headed to the hospital with a few guild members. The resulting interaction went about how Hyeon-woo expected.

“You are surprisingly healthy.”

The doctor raised his glasses and said,

“You must have had a hard time eating properly in the dungeon, but it’s amazing.”

That’s because I didn’t suffer! A-yun didn’t know, but Hyeon-woo had walked around the dungeon very comfortably.

“I think Hyeon-woo can leave the hospital…”

On the other hand, A-yun decided to stay in the hospital a little longer. Although only faced mild fatigue, she could not be discharged from the hospital due to Ja-yun’s reluctance.

“I want to leave too!”

A-yun stomped her feet, but Ja-yun didn’t listen.

“Next time! I will see you next time!”

Holding tightly onto Hyeon-woo as he was leaving the hospital, A-yun emphasized it several times.

“Ok.”

“Will you really meet with me again?”

“Yes.”

It was nice to see her smiling excitedly when he answered back. That’s how he thought this portal incident would end.

***

With the troublesome work over, peace will return to the city. Seon-woo had thought this to himself many times before. How long had he been out of the dungeon? He had slept so much afterwards that he couldn’t put off work anymore. Seon-woo went to work in a gloomy state, Kero rising with him.

Hyeon-woo yawned loudly as he sat down on the sofa in the living room in his pajamas. He casually picked up the remote to turn the TV on, when he heard Do-jin’s voice.

“Are you awake?”

Hyeon-woo straightened his posture without realizing it at the sound of a soft voice that seemed to tickle his ear. Goosebumps ran down his back.

“What should we do for lunch?”

There was kindness in every mundane question. Hyeon-woo didn’t remember him originally acting like this; Do-jin’s changed since they came out of the portal.

Outwardly, nothing was amiss. Others wouldn’t even notice anything was different. However, Hyeon-woo, who was close to him, knew for sure. A lot had changed since the event.

In the past, Do-jin was kind to Hyeon-woo— but it wasn’t like this. Contrasting with the distance they maintained before, Do-jin was treating him like Seon-woo did. He was acting comfortably and lost the awkward stiltedness. Hyeon-woo even used to mess with him because of it. Now Hyeon-woo was feeling some whiplash with the overnight change.

‘Ugh.’

Hyeon-woo hugged Kero, who was lying next to him, and laid back on the sofa. Do-jin approached him, covering him in a blanket and patting his chest naturally. Hyeon-woo curled his toes from the awkwardness of it.

‘No! I can’t stand it like this.’

Hyeon-woo swam through the sea of information using his tablet.

‘I can tell someone really likes me now and it feels really weird. How do I deal with it?’

He found someone with a similar problem, so he read a comment at the top.

‘If that is too burdensome, how about trying to cut them off? Try making unreasonable demands.’

Unreasonable demands! Hyeon-woo rolled his head around thinking about it. He quickly thought up a solution! At that moment, there was a good broadcast coming out on TV.

『Hello! Today, we invited Song Hyun-ssi, an actor who is making waves with his new movie ‘Black Out.’』

The camera panned over to show a handsome man who appeared to be in his late twenties. His neatly trimmed hair and blazer made his charm stand out even more.

He turned up the TV volume on purpose and Do-jin looked over from the kitchen.

“That actor looks cool. Right? Why don’t we take this opportunity to trim Do-jin’s hair too?”

“My hair?”

“Right now, it’s overgrown and covers your eyes. I think it’d be uncomfortable to keep it like that.”

“It’s not uncomfortable though.”

He was expecting a reaction like that. Do-jin didn’t even wear the clothes given to you at the store. And now Hyeon-woo was telling him to cut his hair.

“Still.”

Hyeon-woo persistently kept biting on the part and stretched. (EN: an idiom meaning he continued pushing towards the matter.)

“How about a haircut like that? Doesn’t it look cool?”

“Cool?”

“It’s cool!”

Actually, Hyeon-woo wasn’t really interested in male actors. It wasn’t that he was interested in female actors either. He had grown tired of pushing himself so hard, so he didn’t want to exhaust himself from dating.

“That’s cool.”

Do-jin stared intently at the actor on the TV screen. Then, as soon as his interest disappeared, he returned to preparing meals.

‘Okay, you’re doing great.’

It seemed like doing this might be enough to nip the crush in its bud and help Do-jin separate Hyeon-woo and Ye-won in his mind.

‘I did it.’

“I will be out for a bit today.”

After saying that, Do-jin disappeared for about half a day. When he came back, Hyeon-woo didn’t recognize him and asked a question in shock.

“Who are you?”

If one looked closely, he didn’t massively alter anything. Do-jin just straightened his back, put on new clothes, and trimmed his long hair. Even though that was all that was different, he looked like a completely different person.

“Do I look weird?”

Do-jin looked down at the sweater he was wearing and asked awkwardly. Come to think of it, that sweater was the one Hyeon-woo had given him as a present before.

“No, not at all.”

“Oh good. I wanted to show you at least once. If you were Ye-won, wouldn’t she want to see this too? That’s what I thought at least.”

Thank god. Do-jin hadn’t changed his appearance to pursue Hyeon-woo, as he had feared. Hyeon-woo wiped his chest.

“You’re right. If it was the Ye-won Noona I knew, she would want this.”

Do-jin smiled faintly in agreement. The ripple effect when a person who didn’t usually laugh showed happiness was great.

His appearance had only changed a bit! Hyeon-woo nodded his head and felt embarrassed at his previous thoughts. He had been scheming while Do-jin was acting with a different set of motivation.

Kero rolled over as he suddenly kicked the blanket in shame.

***

When he first exited the portal, Do-jin had felt extremely uncomfortable. He felt guilty for mistaking someone else to be his dead sister. He thought it was an inexcusable mistake, even though it was because he had fallen for the monster’s mental attack.

Because of that, he first tried maintaining a distance with Hyeon-woo. Even though the spell had been lifted, his heart still sighed with relief when they were together. Things he didn’t notice before slowly made themselves apparent.

Hyeon-woo hates waking up early in the morning. He enjoyed reclining rather than sitting on the sofa. He would sometimes hold a cushion or Kero in that state. TV could entertain him all day. He had been watching a strange drama. He likes to eat. But he doesn’t drink coffee because of its bitter taste.

A lot came to his mind and he felt very close to Hyeon-woo.

‘Yeah, like a Dongsaeng.’

Actually, Dongsaeng was an appropriate title. Hyeon-woo was now twenty-five and Do-jin was twenty-eight. With a three-year age difference, Do-jin was a Hyung.

As his mind changed, so did his attitude. Hyeon-woo still felt awkward about Do-Jin’s change of attitude. Do-jin came to think that this kind of life wasn’t bad.

‘Ye-won-ah.’

For the first time since that day, he wore clothes other than the clothes Ye-won had chosen and cut his hair. He thought, let’s live more humanly.

“Who are you?”

With that in mind, when he entered the lobby of the Seon-Hyeon Guild, a security guard approached him with a questionable face.

“I’m Han Do-jin.”

‘Shouldn’t you recognize my face by now? Why are you asking this?’

“Really? Is that true?”

The guard opened his mouth as soon as he heard that. It wasn’t just that. As they passed by, everyone they passed did a double-take. It was a strange sight to see the wake they left behind.

“What is this look?”

The same was true of Seon-woo when they met in the middle. He looked Do-jin up and down with a displeased face, and then he asked.

“Do you really have to say that?”

“No, but are you about to go to my Hyung looking like this?”

“Yes.”

“I think it suits you better than the look you had before.”

Seon-woo complimented his new style, but it was Hyeon-woo who actually put it together. But he kept his mouth shut because he didn’t know what kind of reaction he’d get if he said that.

“I heard my Hyung is the one that picked out your clothes.”

Seon-woo didn’t acknowledge his poking at a painful spot. His previous clothes were chosen by Ye-won, so he had only worn them to not forget the Dongsaeng he couldn’t save. But he didn’t forget his just because he changed his clothes.

When he thought of his Dongsaeng, his heart ached and he felt guilty. Even if everyone else forgets, he would forever remember Ye-won.

However, there was one more person he thought of as a Dongsaeng.

“Guild Leader!”

Just then, Chan-young called to Seon-woo from behind. Seon-woo’s gaze turned for a moment and Do-jin left the place. How will Hyeon-woo react when he sees the change? His heart pounded as he thought about it.

And he has reached him now.

Chiiyik.

He felt a hole burning into the back of his head while he fried an egg. But Do-jin didn’t look back. He knew that if he did, Hyeon-woo would look away again. It was strange to see an adult acting like this.

‘Cute.’

He had noticed the change in his appearance and kept looking at him. It felt surprisingly good to know he had captured his attention. He thought it’d be nice for this to go on for a bit more.