Chapter 215

Even if the reason Seo Jehyun took interest in Cheonmyeonggyo was because of a fiend beast merge, either way, if he’d boldly said to my face that he was going to get rid of Cheonmyeonggyo, shouldn’t he show results?

Im Haekyung, considering the possibility that Cheonmyeonggyo’s base might move, watched their movements through believers inside Cheonmyeonggyo.

If Seo Jehyun asked for help, they intended to accept gladly. They were also curious what conditions the person who’d already put even them onto a contract would bring next time.

‘Anyway, there really is no contact.’

Seo Jehyun not contacting people was something they were used to, but they hadn’t expected even the other people living with him to resemble that temperament. It might be because they were following Seo Jehyun’s control, though.

‘Both of them are kind of....’

Thinking about the two, whose loyalty was far too high to just be called Seo Jehyun’s employees, lined up side by side, Im Haekyung leaned back in their chair and folded their arms.

‘Their attitude?’

It wasn’t like they’d become close enough to pick at someone’s attitude, though.

‘But with Jehyun, things seem fine?’

Still, if someone who was asking the guild master of the number one guild in the country to do this and that actually hated them, that would be the strange thing.

Im Haekyung clicked their tongue inwardly as if feeling regret and quietly stared at their phone. Well, whether he hated them or not, if the results were good, that was all that mattered. Emotions, too, could be controlled as long as you manipulated them precisely, but they didn’t particularly feel like going that far. It wasn’t that important.

After falling into those thoughts for a moment, Im Haekyung casually pushed the paper aside to one spot.

***

Joo Seowon stared at the closed door and let out a sigh without realizing it. He considered going right after Seo Jehyun, but he gave up when he realized he didn’t know what he’d even say if they faced each other again.

In the first place, there wasn’t much he’d wanted to say, either. When contact had been cut off completely for two weeks, he’d been nothing but anxious.

He had a baseline trust in Seo Jehyun. In the first place, Seo Jehyun wasn’t the type to obsess over a hand that put him at a disadvantage. Sometimes it felt like he was losing his mind because he wanted to die, but as for most things, Seo Jehyun would handle it on his own and come back, so Seowon wasn’t worried in that sense.

‘...I can’t really picture someone beating the shit out of him.’

It wasn’t just because Seo Jehyun’s physical specs were excellent, or because he was born strong. More than that, it was—how should he put it—because Seo Jehyun’s attitude made him look like he had a vicious lack of interest in people, or maybe because he had the boldness to do insane things without hesitation. Either way, he looked like someone who wouldn’t get taken down easily anywhere. That was the kind of belief and certainty Seowon had in Seo Jehyun.

Seo Jehyun called him a small fry, but hadn’t he saved Seowon every time? In the Dungeon, and at the auction house.

Even though he messed people around and used them here and there with a playful attitude, Seo Jehyun was a pretty decent employer.

...And it had already been quite a while since it went past that.

But regardless of that certainty or belief, the longer the days without contact dragged on, the more anxious he couldn’t help but get. Even while thinking there was no way, ominous thoughts slipped in one by one.

Even while handling what Seo Jehyun told him to do, the worry surged up—what if the person who was supposed to receive this work disappeared? Acting calm was something he was used to, but whenever he had empty time, anxiety climbed back up.

Joo Seowon unconsciously started to lift a hand to his ear, then flinched and stopped. This, too, was a habit he’d picked up over time.

And in the ear he’d been reaching for, there was the piercing Seo Jehyun had put in for him. A piercing he’d never taken out even once, except for the single time he went to see Im Haekyung.

‘Doesn’t seem like he knows I met Im Haekyung....’

If Seo Jehyun had noticed, unless he was testing the waters right now, he would’ve blown up a long time ago.

After he’d secretly gone to meet Im Haekyung and received Im Haekyung’s bizarre proposal—telling him to pass along information about Seo Jehyun—Seowon and Im Haekyung contacted each other very occasionally. The content was simple. Just like the proposal, it was only telling them what Seo Jehyun had proposed.

Seowon tried to guess Im Haekyung’s ulterior motive, but it wasn’t easy to predict. He couldn’t understand what purpose Im Haekyung had in making that proposal, or what kind of benefit it gave them that they’d offer it to Seowon.

However, he also couldn’t completely ignore the occasional messages that came in with a casual thud. Because Seowon, naturally, was curious about Seo Jehyun.

After thinking that far, Joo Seowon froze again.

His fingertips lightly touched the piercing, then he hurriedly yanked his hand away and put it back where it belonged.

‘What the hell am I doing?’

A habit he’d picked up while Seo Jehyun was gone being nothing but touching a piercing. Even he thought it was ridiculous.

“Ha....”

Letting out a short sigh, Joo Seowon stepped backward and dropped onto the bed. Slowly covering half his face with his hand, he stared at the floor and kept thinking about Seo Jehyun.

While worrying about Seo Jehyun, whose contact had been cut off completely for two weeks, Seowon had, in his own way, agonized intensely.

In the first place, what Seo Jehyun requested was clear. Don’t follow, and instead handle what he told him to do at home. From Seowon’s perspective, there was no reason to refuse Seo Jehyun’s suggestion, so he followed it without protest.

So even when contact was cut, it was hard to investigate right away. He couldn’t tell whether Seo Jehyun was simply too busy to contact him, or whether something big had actually happened. If it was the latter, fine, but if it was the former and he stepped in first, it felt like Seo Jehyun would hate it.

‘This isn’t even the kind of thing I should be watching my mood over.’

Spending two weeks with those thoughts naturally built up fatigue. The anger he’d poured out the moment he faced Seo Jehyun again honestly had relief mixed into it.

‘And what? He merged with a fiend beast?’

Where the hell did he even keep picking up news that made your insides burst like this. His chest felt tight. Even if Seowon knew more information than most people, since cases were so rare, he didn’t know the fine details about fiend-merged Hunters.

‘No, I can find cases if I really want. It’s just....’

This was the most suffocating part. He thought he didn’t need to worry about Seo Jehyun, but he was worried anyway, and it felt like it was going to drive him insane. It would be great if Seo Jehyun would at least tell him what the hell he was doing, but Seo Jehyun always refused to share those kinds of things and made decisions on his own.

With a sigh, Joo Seowon buried his face in his hands and slowly scrubbed his face down hard.

After sitting there for a long while, he slowly got up and went out.

Seo Jehyun’s door was still shut in silence. Joo Seowon wandered around at an awkward distance for a bit, then turned his body and headed somewhere else.

Seo Jehyun wasn’t the only one who knew what Seo Jehyun had been doing for the past two weeks.

After hesitating for quite a long time in front of Do Yehyun’s door, Joo Seowon lightly knocked.

“Jehyun?”

From inside came a light voice asking back, then the door opened. Do Yehyun stared at Seowon standing outside for a moment, then blinked without saying anything.

“...Oh. Hi.”

“...Hello.”

It was a painfully awkward moment. For some reason he couldn’t understand, Joo Seowon suddenly wanted to bite his tongue.

Also, the fact that the voice that had been unbelievably bright when he knocked dropped instantly bothered him.

‘He thought it was Seo Jehyun.... Didn’t he usually call me something else?’

On top of that, the change in how he addressed him felt weird.

‘No, honestly, calling me that in the first place was weird. It’s not like I’m in a gang.’

But was Do Yehyun the type to change how he addressed someone on his own?

Realizing pointless questions were piling up in his head, Seowon cut it off appropriately and awkwardly lifted the corners of his mouth.

“Uh.... It’s been a while.”

“Yes.”

“Dungeon... wasn’t it hard?”

“The Dungeon?”

Do Yehyun looked like he was thinking for a moment at Seowon’s words, then answered obediently.

“It was fine.”

“...Yeah? Seo Jehyun didn’t look like it was fine.”

“Ah... for him....”

Trailing off, Do Yehyun slowly nodded.

‘What is that? Is that a yes?’

Joo Seowon felt that suffocating frustration again.

Even though they lived in the same house, Seowon and Do Yehyun hardly ever talked. At best, when all three of them were together, Seowon would watch Seo Jehyun’s mood, then casually offer over the snack he was eating and ask, “Want some?” And every time, this twenty-year-old—no, now twenty-one—little brother in front of him would firmly refuse with, “I’m fine.”

That was almost the only conversation that ever happened between them.

But Seowon had a rough grasp of what kind of guy Do Yehyun was. In the first place, Seowon had seen information about “Do Yehyun” before Seo Jehyun’s.

And since his reactions were so clearly split, it wasn’t easy not to notice.

Do Yehyun lived at a level that was basically devoting his whole life to Seo Jehyun. Even from Seowon’s perspective, watching from one step away, it was obvious.

Why did he throw himself into SH Guild work? Because Seo Jehyun told him to. Why did he build up his healer Skills, and why did he follow without hesitation even when they said to go to a cult Dungeon tied to his own past? Same reason. Seo Jehyun.

It was impressive that one person could follow another person’s words this obediently. In that sense, Do Yehyun was practically no different from someone who’d lost a portion of his self.

And if you looked at what he did on a daily basis.... It was blatantly obvious that he liked Seo Jehyun. Not just attachment or admiration—just liking, in every way you could like someone.

‘But he’s fine?’

Thinking that, he suddenly got curious. Seo Jehyun knew Do Yehyun liked him. But even after that, the relationship between the two of them hadn’t really changed....

Continuing his thoughts, Joo Seowon turned his head to the side and gave a short fake cough. Because as he kept thinking, he remembered that insane moment where Seo Jehyun had sex with someone while knowing Do Yehyun’s situation.

‘I should just go.’

The urge to keep talking vanished in an instant. Pretending to smile in a friendly way, Seowon lightly shook his head.

“Ah, never mind. You’re probably tired, too.... Uh... rest.”

“Yes.”

Do Yehyun, who’d been blankly staring at Seowon without even asking what he came for, nodded.

At that moment, something caught in Seowon’s gaze.

“Hey, but right here....”

“Yes?”

“You look hurt. You okay?”

Joo Seowon reflexively reached out, then pulled his hand back. Touching his own neck area to indicate the injury, he tossed out a light worry. There was no particular intention. He just saw a wound, and normally you’d at least add a word or two of concern.

At Seowon’s words, Do Yehyun raised a hand and precisely covered the wound that ran from his neck to his collarbone, staring at Seowon in silence for a moment. Meeting that gaze, Seowon thought maybe it was a sensitive spot and was about to just shrug and move on, but then he hesitated.

A small wound that didn’t look that serious. When you wandered around Dungeons, it wasn’t even one or two wounds—carrying around several bigger ones than this was normal.

So getting hurt to this degree didn’t even count as a big deal. That was why he’d only thrown out a casual concern.

Of course, that was assuming the person in front of him wasn’t a healer capable of self-healing.

“But you didn’t treat it.”

Joo Seowon added in an even voice.