* * *
The letters vanished as if they had never been there.
The story, however, had progressed.
It was now at the part where the protagonist graduated from the training school and joined a government agency.
That meant the moment when villain Na Doyoung betrayed the protagonist was drawing near.
Unease settled over him, and he quickly approached Beom Sinje.
“Beom Sinje.”
He called out again, but there was no response.
As he continued forward, he abruptly froze.
[Why did you do it?! Why on earth…?!]
The story had reached the climactic moment when the villain Na Doyoung revealed his true identity to Beom Sinje.
The narrative was rushing forward at breakneck speed—Antithesis to the protagonist, dungeon sabotage, and the catastrophic overflow that resulted in massive casualties.
All of it pointed to the despair caused by the villain Na Doyoung.
“Ha…”
Doyoung sighed and looked at Beom Sinje.
His face seemed to twist faintly—was he also seeing this story?
“That’s not me.”
Whether Beom Sinje could hear him or not, Doyoung felt compelled to draw a clear line.
“That’s the villain before I transmigrated. I’m just… me.”
Whether Beom Sinje would believe him was another matter.
“Anyway, wake up. We need to talk.”
Exhaling deeply, Doyoung resumed his steps.
Every time he cleared the tangled wires, a sharp, tingling sensation seemed to shoot up to his brain, but it didn’t hinder his movement.
What really drew his attention was Beom Sinje’s furrowed brows twitching every time the wires brushed against him.
“Beom Sin… ugh!”
As he approached close enough to touch, Doyoung reached out, calling Beom Sinje’s name.
He intended to brush over his closed eyes or gently caress his cheek to wake him.
However, before his hand could even reach the man’s face, a firm grip caught his wrist.
The sudden pull that followed left Doyoung stumbling helplessly forward.
“…Doyoung hyung?”
The voice stopped him from completely falling.
Thanks to the solid arm that steadied him, Doyoung managed to regain his balance.
Beom Sinje’s tightly shut eyelids had lifted at some point, revealing dark, piercing eyes that now stared directly at Doyoung.
For a moment, Doyoung was at a loss for words and simply met his gaze, unsure of what to say.
“Doyoung hyung.”
Beom Sinje called out to him again, and suddenly, a smile broke across his face.
It was the kind of smile that made him look as if a weight had been lifted, like he had just remembered something he’d forgotten.
“What are you smiling about as if you’ve done something right?”
Doyoung grumbled irritably, but Beom Sinje didn’t let his expression falter.
Instead, he loosened the grip that had been holding Doyoung upright.
Caught off guard, Doyoung’s body tilted forward and ended up falling straight into Beom Sinje’s broad chest, almost like a dive.
“Hey, let go. Are you going to let me go or not?”
He immediately tried to pull himself up, but it was futile.
Long, firm arms wrapped securely around his back, making it impossible for him to retreat.
“I missed you.”
A soft breath tickled his ear.
Doyoung shuddered at the sensation, his shoulders trembling.
“I said, let go.”
“I really missed you.”
Beom Sinje hugged him even tighter, pulling Doyoung’s slim frame closer as if trying to confirm his presence.
He inhaled deeply, as if savoring the scent of someone he had longed for.
“What are you doing?”
Doyoung protested, but this time, Beom Sinje finally let him go.
The wide smile he had worn moments ago was now gone, replaced by a quieter, more contemplative expression.
Instead of answering immediately, Beom Sinje scanned Doyoung slowly, almost as if reacquainting himself.
“Do you know something, hyung?”
“What?”
“I called out to you with all my heart. I was desperate.”
Beom Sinje didn’t say anything else for a while.
When Doyoung shifted slightly, trying to break away, Beom Sinje patted his back softly, as if asking him to stay just a little longer.
There was something so earnest in the gesture that Doyoung couldn’t bring himself to reject it.
He remained still, silently complying.
“Do you see that?”
Noticing the change in Beom Sinje’s touch—his hands growing warmer—Doyoung quickly tried to redirect his attention.
“The letters, you mean?”
Thankfully, Beom Sinje took the bait without resistance.
“Yeah. Yeo Giwon told me you found them and acted on your own. Is that what this is about?”
Beom Sinje nodded.
“Yeah. At first, I heard something… crawling? Dragging? Wrapping around? I don’t know, but it sounded like that.”
It had been just before the building collapsed.
The sound was faint, and no one else in the guild seemed to notice it.
He had hesitated on how to act, but then the wires had lunged at him.
That was when he decided to trace their origin.
“If something like that happens, you should move as a group. What if something dangerous showed up?”
“It didn’t feel threatening at the time,” Beom Sinje replied nonchalantly.
Doyoung smacked his back with an audible slap.
“Ugh, ow…”
As expected, Beom Sinje exaggerated his reaction.
Of course, Doyoung knew it was all an act, but he couldn’t stop himself from rubbing the spot he had just hit.
“You always tell me not to act recklessly, yet you do the same thing? What would I do if you got hurt or something happened to you?”
When the laboratory had crumbled before his eyes, Doyoung had felt sheer terror—despair and a sense of endless freefall.
“I’m sorry, hyung.”
Beom Sinje offered an earnest apology, and as if it wasn’t enough, he pressed soft kisses to the nape of Doyoung’s neck and earlobe.
Doyoung let out a long breath, leaning closer to him.
The shared warmth reminded him who he was with, grounding him.
The lingering unease hadn’t entirely faded—it was still tied to the vivid memory of that moment.
Yet here Beom Sinje was, acting so nonchalantly.
Smack.
This time, the slap was harder, the sound louder.
But Beom Sinje didn’t even flinch.
“I wasn’t thinking. You can keep hitting me if it’ll make you feel better.”
“I’m good, thanks.”
The sincerity was fleeting, replaced by a playful quip.
Still, Doyoung couldn’t shake the feeling that Beom Sinje didn’t truly grasp how important he was to him.
“By the way, nothing serious happened. Aside from those things brushing against me constantly, that is.”
“Kim Jinsoo said they seemed to pour out when the building collapsed. Do you think that’s what happened?”
“Could be. When I saw them, they seemed to be retreating. Or maybe fleeing?”
“You make it sound like they’re alive.”
Doyoung recalled Kim Jinsoo’s words about how the wires didn’t behave mechanically but still felt alive, almost plant-like.
“They’re not alive, but it’s close. They move on their own, at least.”
“What do the letters mean?”
This had been Doyoung’s main question all along.
He leaned back slightly, studying Beom Sinje’s face for any signs of uncertainty or discomfort.
Their gazes met directly, both scrutinizing the other as if to confirm what they knew.
“I already told you—I called out to you desperately.”
“Ah…”
Doyoung remembered him saying that and nodded, recalling the words he had momentarily forgotten.
“Actually, I was watching a funny video just before this.”
“A video?”
The curious tilt of Doyoung’s head amused Beom Sinje.
He leaned in and planted a light kiss on Doyoung’s lips.
When Doyoung shot him a look, he chuckled and kissed his eyelids too.
“What are you doing?”
Doyoung scolded, but Beom Sinje only grinned and placed another kiss on his cheek before finally responding.
“Yeah. You were in it, and so was I. Yeo Giwon, too. Even the CEO of ATE Pharmaceuticals made an appearance.”
From that alone, Doyoung could easily guess the video’s content.
But instead of reacting, he simply gestured for Beom Sinje to continue.
Strangely, seeing Doyoung wait patiently like that made Beom Sinje’s heart flutter.
* * *
