Chapter 222

I tossed my jacket over a chair, leaned back against the kitchen table, and turned my gaze toward the living room. First I saw Joo Seowon, sitting with his back against the sofa while looking at his laptop, and then Do Yehyun, sitting on the dining chair right beside him, quietly staring in my direction.

On the surface, it was a perfect return to everyday life. Even if a few things had changed in a strange way.

Do Yehyun and Joo Seowon barely talked to each other to begin with, but now it was at the level where they didn’t even greet each other. It wasn’t that their relationship had gotten worse—more like Seowon, who’d at least thrown out words sometimes, had decided to stop doing even that.

Honestly, I didn’t care if they didn’t talk. This wasn’t a middle school fight scene. They were two grown adults—let them handle it.

But when Seowon clammed up completely, there was usually a reason.

‘Do I poke it, or not.’

It didn’t look particularly on-edge yet, but Seowon was the kind of bastard who could suddenly decide to fix his attitude anytime.

I stared at Do Yehyun for a moment, then grabbed his shoulder and crooked my fingers. Do Yehyun obediently leaned toward me. I bent at the waist, brought my mouth to his ear, and whispered.

“Will you come up to my room for a bit later?”

“Yes.”

Do Yehyun nodded gently and answered without a single question.

Right after that, when I straightened up, my eyes met Joo Seowon’s in one shot. When our eyes met, Seowon naturally turned his gaze back to his laptop like it had been an accident.

Of course, Seowon’s gaze was never an accident.

‘He noticed.’

At this point, it was definite. Seowon was paying attention to Do Yehyun one-sidedly. And the cause was probably me.

I lowered my eyes again and looked at the exposed nape of Do Yehyun’s neck. The bite marks and bruising from sex had naturally disappeared completely within a day or two. Just like he’d said, Do Yehyun hadn’t healed himself at all. He’d just gone about daily life like nothing was wrong, with the marks I’d left all over him.

‘Seowon would notice, obviously.’

I reached out and wrapped my hand around the back of Do Yehyun’s neck. Do Yehyun’s gaze quietly lifted.

Without saying anything, still holding eye contact, I slowly stroked my thumb down past the sternocleidomastoid to where a blood vessel ran. In an instant, I felt his neck redden, twitching as it trembled.

After pulling my hand away and sticking it back in my pocket, I ignored the bizarre silence and went upstairs to my room.

A little later, I heard a knock, then Do Yehyun’s voice.

“Should I come in?”

“Yeah.”

Click. The door opened, and Do Yehyun’s face peeked in.

Do Yehyun came into the room and stood there, quietly looking at me. I tipped my chin toward the bed.

“Sit.”

“Yes.”

Do Yehyun sat down neatly on the bed and looked up at me.

“Why did you tell me to come...?”

“Because I have something to say.”

“What is it?”

I pulled a chair over and sat directly in front of Do Yehyun. I leaned forward slightly, met his eyes head-on, and wrapped my hands around his knees.

“Have you been going into dungeons lately?”

“Yes. Once as support, and twice going in from the start, like that.”

“Gate rank?”

“One C-rank, and the rest were all B-rank.”

“You stayed back and only healed?”

“Yes. Selectively.”

As if to say good job, I gripped Do Yehyun’s knee once and let go.

For the record, Do Yehyun hadn’t gotten his rank corrected. He’d realized something about him had changed, but he couldn’t gauge exactly how much stronger his mana had gotten. He could roughly predict it from the quantified numbers Haeseong had given us, but that was it.

After thinking a bit, I came to a quick conclusion.

‘For now, leave it alone.’

Do Yehyun was a healer. Unlike offensive Skills, his Skill use didn’t stand out. Of course, to a Hunter with excellent mana sensing, something abnormal would show immediately, but if it wasn’t that level, he could fake it to some degree just by adjusting his Skill output.

And I’d just gotten my rank corrected—if Do Yehyun got his corrected right after, it would obviously stand out too much.

It was a risk we didn’t need to take.

Do Yehyun followed my words faithfully. Even though his ability was more than enough, he adjusted his healing and put it in accordingly. Even if there were moments where it could get dangerous if healing fell behind on a battlefield, he didn’t waver much.

‘He listens well. Nice.’

And I’d been sure from the start that he would.

I nodded slowly and delivered what I’d actually called him up for.

“An S-rank Gate is going to appear.”

“Yes. When?”

“Soon. I don’t know the exact date, but it’ll be after April.”

“That’s soon.”

Today was March 24. It’d already been about a month since I’d gone to Jinsando.

‘And there’s less than a month left until Kwon Taehan shows up.’

I looked Do Yehyun straight in the eye as I spoke.

“You can probably tell from the fact I said S-rank Gate, but it’s pretty big. A lot of SH Guild Hunters are going to go in, too.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t go in there.”

Do Yehyun answered obediently again.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“If a support request comes, should I ignore it?”

“Yeah. Or it’s not a bad idea to already be inside another Gate. Something lower-rank than that... like D or E? Somewhere you won’t really get hurt.”

“I can heal right away even if I get hurt.”

“I know.”

Do you ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) think I’m doing this because I don’t know that?

I let out a short laugh and tapped Do Yehyun’s knee with my finger. Again, I could clearly feel his entire leg tremble subtly under my hand.

I snorted and shot back at him.

“Not just you—if someone else gets injured, you can treat them right away too. And besides, right now your healing... it’s gotten better stats than what you used to use.”

“.......”

“So no.”

Do Yehyun blinked slowly and asked,

“Is there someone I shouldn’t heal?”

“Yeah.”

As if he understood from just that, Do Yehyun nodded quietly.

“You got what I mean?”

“Yes.”

“What do you mean?”

“Someone... is going to die. And I don’t think I should save them.”

“Right.”

Mm. He understood well.

Pulling up the corner of my mouth, I asked,

“Any ethical anguish?”

“I... as long as you’re okay, hyung, everything’s okay.”

“I’m okay. I’m fine.”

“You’re not going in either, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then it doesn’t matter.”

I don’t know if I should say I raised him with bad habits, or raised him well.

I let out a small laugh and flicked Do Yehyun’s cheek with my finger. Do Yehyun’s gaze quietly followed me.

“What?”

“When you laugh like that... I like it.”

“What is this kind of laugh?”

I just laughed without thinking. Is there even a difference?

Do Yehyun answered slowly without looking away.

“Just... because you look like you’re in a good mood.”

“.......”

“You laugh a lot, but the way you laugh is different when you’re in a bad mood and when you’re in a good mood.”

“Is it?”

“Yes.”

I hadn’t been consciously aware of it. I stopped smiling and lightly brushed around my mouth with my hand.

‘Am I in a good mood right now?’

Not really... there isn’t any reason I’d be in a particularly good mood.

I turned my gaze at an angle and looked at Do Yehyun.

“Do I look like I’m in a good mood?”

“Up until just now, yes. Right now... I’m not sure.”

“How do you know when I’m in a good mood.”

“Because I’m always watching you.”

“.......”

So, as a result of observation?

Well, Do Yehyun’s eyes... did tend to follow me most of the time. As much as I watched him, he was probably watching me too.

‘Maybe even more closely than I do.’

Then was Do Yehyun quietly watching me, figuring out my mood and habits?

“If you keep watching me, can you read what I’m thinking?”

“No. But just... my sense of your mood, I can tell. You don’t hide that.”

“Really? Didn’t know....”

I trailed off and looked at Do Yehyun.

There wasn’t any particular reason, but my mood felt strange. Even though I didn’t have any resentment about being observed by someone. Was it just the difference in how persistent the gaze was?

While my eyes collided with Do Yehyun’s, the silence continued. The nape where my hand had touched earlier was smooth without a scratch. It was a little red, but within a normal range.

I took my gaze off his neck and looked in turn at Do Yehyun’s closed lips, then his eyes.

It’s funny.

He doesn’t even really know what kind of mood he’s in, yet he notices my mood so well.

“Hyung.”

“.......”

“Are you... in a bad mood?”

“No.”

Do Yehyun asked like he was reading my face. I answered briefly, then leaned back into the chair.

Again, his gaze followed quietly. I brought my hands back, interlaced my fingers near my knees, stared at him for a moment, then reached out and firmly grabbed Do Yehyun’s chin.

And before his eyes could even chase it, I turned my head and crashed our lips together.

“......!”

When his mouth opened in surprise, I pushed my tongue inside. I tightened my grip on his jaw, pried his awkwardly parted mouth a little wider, and properly wrapped my tongue around his and sucked.

Putting a bit of my weight into it and pressing him down, Do Yehyun was laid back on the bed as obediently as I pushed. I climbed up on top of him like it was familiar, shoved my tongue in deeper, and swept his palate and teeth.

I could feel his body jolt and tremble, raw and obvious.

A hand that had been dangling on the bed reached up and grabbed my shoulder. I looped Do Yehyun’s arm around the back of his neck and kept kissing him.

I lightly bit his lips with my teeth, tapped my tongue against his, and every time I did, Do Yehyun’s whole body trembled. But he never once tried to avoid my lips.

Even when I bit down hard enough on his tongue that it hurt, it was the same. A whimpering moan leaked past our sealed mouths, but without resisting, he obediently opened his mouth and quietly took my tongue.

Ending with a slow, sticky suck on his lips, I finally lifted my body.

When I looked down, I saw Do Yehyun’s expression, staring up at me blankly.

I wiped his lips with my thumb, cleaning away the saliva, then pulled up the corner of my mouth at a slant.

“Yehyun.”

“...Yes.”

“I should... learn how to hide my mood, too.”

With the same thumb I’d used to wipe him, I pushed it into Do Yehyun’s mouth. With my finger held silently between his teeth, Do Yehyun looked up at me and slowly nodded.

I could clearly feel his breath growing rough against my finger.