* * *
“……?!”
It was something he had never felt in his entire life, but as a man, there was no way he couldn’t recognize it…
Joo Youngha, did he even have this “function”?
No, more importantly!
Seo Jaewon hurriedly tried to sit up, but hands wound around his waist, pulling him helplessly back onto the bed.
“Joo Youngha, let go…!”
“Mmm.”
A low, purring voice tickled his ear from right beside him.
A moist, warm breath brushed against the small hairs on the back of his neck.
Seo Jaewon froze without even realizing it.
Joo Youngha rubbed his sleek nose against the stiff muscles of Jaewon’s neck and mumbled.
“Jaewon’s scent…”
Goosebumps broke out all over his back.
“No, Youngha, seriously, can we just move apart for a second…?”
“No.”
Like a stubborn child, Joo Youngha did the opposite and pulled Seo Jaewon’s upper body even closer.
Because they were pressed so tightly together, he could feel Joo Youngha’s body heat directly against his back.
“Jaewon, your skin is surprisingly soft.”
The hand that had been around his waist slid underneath his shirt.
When that relatively cool temperature grazed his skin, a strange feeling washed over him.
“Ugh…!”
It didn’t hurt.
It was just weird.
It was ticklish, a bit chilling, and made the bottom of his heart itch.
It made him feel like he didn’t know what to do with himself.
“Hey, no! Wake up and let’s talk after you’re fully awake!”
Seo Jaewon desperately pulled at Joo Youngha’s arm.
However, the guy didn’t budge, wrapping his limbs around Jaewon like a snake that had caught its prey.
‘I’m getting goosebumps…!’
Joo Youngha’s long eyelashes tickled the back of his neck.
It felt as if he were writing a name with a small brush.
“…This isn’t surprisingly bad.”
“No, really, wait a minute. Ah…!”
Joo Youngha muttered to himself as he lightly grazed the skin with his lips.
To Seo Jaewon, that soft touch felt as chilling as fangs trying to pierce his neck.
“Jaewon, you know…”
The lethargic voice flowed into his ear like thick honey.
The subtle way he trailed off his words pulled the loose atmosphere tight.
Jaewon felt nervous for no reason at the tension that felt like it might snap at any moment.
This was just Joo Youngha.
It was only Joo Youngha, yet that voice strangely made him swallow hard.
A sense of crisis rushed in.
This was dangerous.
He didn’t know what was dangerous, but anyway!
“Something I want to do came to mind. Do you want to ask me again?”
Seo Jaewon stiffened his body instinctively.
“…Ugh.”
After a long silence, a suppressed sound escaped his throat.
“Ugh?”
Joo Youngha blinked and asked back.
As he tilted his head, his silky hair and eyelashes tickled Jaewon’s neck.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
“Oh, you hate it again?”
Seo Jaewon screamed and struggled.
Rather than a strategic move, he flailed his limbs like a drowning person and leaped off the bed.
Thump!
It was an accident, but his elbow landed perfectly in Joo Youngha’s solar plexus.
He hit him so hard that even the EX-class Esper was pushed back a little.
Seo Jaewon took that chance to quickly pull himself away.
Panting heavily, he stood awkwardly by the bed, rubbing his elbow so he could run away at any moment.
It hurt so much he thought it might bruise.
Joo Youngha only furrowed his brows slightly before bursting into a bright laugh.
“Ahahaha!”
“You—you’re laughing?!”
Seo Jaewon shouted in a huff.
No, his hands were shaking from the shock, and this guy was laughing?
However, Joo Youngha laughed so hard he even wiped tears from his eyes as if it were truly hilarious.
“You’re cute, Jaewon.”
Cute… Is that something you say after rubbing that against a person’s butt since the morning?!
Like someone who never considers other people’s situations, Joo Youngha just tilted his head and looked up at Seo Jaewon.
He even brazenly laid his head back down on the pillow Jaewon had abandoned.
“Can’t I lie down again? I want to sleep more…”
“You—go sleep all you want by yourself!”
Seo Jaewon dashed into his own room and slammed the door shut.
He had no idea what had just happened.
Was… was that a situation where that should happen?
It wasn’t, right?
His vision was spinning and his head was spinning too.
Is he crazy, Joo Youngha?
Is this guy finally going insane?
But this time, in a different direction than his past life?
How did he become a pervert?
‘No, it’s morning, so it’s probably just a natural physiological phenomenon, right? Even if he looks pretty, he’s still a guy.’
That’s it. That must be it.
Joo Youngha is a grown adult, so of course it’s natural.
I just didn’t know because we haven’t slept together until now.
He’s just clueless and thoughtless, so he doesn’t think it’s a big deal.
Maybe I’ve treated Joo Youngha too inhumanly until now.
I guess I had an image of him as someone who wouldn’t even have those kinds of desires…
After forcing his shocked heart to calm down, he finally felt like his mind was returning to normal.
“Ah.”
Then, late to the party, something caught his eye.
When he rolled his eyes, a message icon was blinking at the bottom of his vision.
It was the system message window.
The quest time must have been filled while he was asleep.
Right, since he was out until morning, four hours had definitely passed.
‘It’s probably another failure.’
A retry was really impossible now.
His head understood the biological part of it, but his heart still felt…
But something was strange.
!QUEST!
Try to have a good time with Joo Youngha.
Quest Complete!
Rating Result: ★★★
3-Star Clear Reward: Matching Rate +6%!
“…Three stars?”
He read it again, thinking he saw it wrong, but it was still three stars.
Plus, the extra 1% he got from complaining to the system last night was included, so the 6% reward was correctly applied.
48%.
It was a number that wouldn’t be embarrassing even if he were called an EX-class Guide, but doubt came before joy.
…No, what exactly did I do to succeed?
This quest was a mystery whether it failed or succeeded.
He remembered eating, drinking, talking a bit, and taking a taxi home.
It was just very faint memories…
He didn’t think he did anything special, and Joo Youngha barely even ate, so why did he get three stars?
‘Does this guy actually like alcohol? No, I was the only one drinking.’
He couldn’t even guess how this guy managed to have a “good time.”
‘He said he didn’t even have anything he wanted to do.’
Something he wanted to do… before he could stop it, the memory of this morning played back in his head.
「Jaewon, you know… Something I want to do came to mind. Do you want to ask me again?」
“…Aaaack!”
Seo Jaewon banged his head against the wall.
He felt the heat in his cheeks before the pain.
This is driving me crazy, what is it!
No, the opponent is Joo Youngha.
After stalling so much about wanting to do something, he probably just wanted to say he wanted to skip training.
Seo Jaewon desperately rationalized the situation.
Right? That must be it.
…Like hell it is!
Once again, the innocent wall made a thump sound.
In the end, Seo Jaewon began to escape from reality.
It was a path he rarely chose.
“Is there no quest where I can stay far away from Joo Youngha? How am I supposed to look at his face now!”
You do not have the authority to create events.
This event cannot be created.
!TIP!
Try to increase your capability as a Guide by working diligently.
“Argh!”
Seo Jaewon let out another short scream and ran out of the dormitory.
Then he ran to the training room and exercised like a madman.
Starting from running, push-ups, bench presses… he did everything he could.
His performance was much lower than before, but at least it left no room for other thoughts.
Once he was completely exhausted, the hangover symptoms disappeared.
His thoughts felt a bit more organized.
Joo Youngha… that could happen. He’s a living creature too.
Let’s just forget it quickly. Let’s go back to normal.
And…
‘If I ever drink again, I’m a dog. A dog.’
While mixing the provided protein powder, Seo Jaewon made that vow.
The first day passed somehow without him facing Joo Youngha again.
The next day, Seo Jaewon ran out to exercise at the crack of dawn just in case he ran into him.
But he couldn’t just exercise forever.
He was a civil servant, and he had to work if someone told him to.
Whether someone killed someone in a past life or introduced their “precious part” in their morning sleep, they had to see each other’s faces and communicate actively at work.
And he had to work to keep Joo Youngha alive.
…He knew that, but it wasn’t easy. It really wasn’t easy.
‘Is it too much to ask for non-face-to-face guiding?’
Like a true office worker, Seo Jaewon was already looking for loopholes.
He wished a meteor would fall right now so he could quit.
Although if a meteor fell, the Espers would be the ones going to work to stop it.
It wasn’t like he was never going to see him again… and for someone who didn’t want to see him, he was thinking about Joo Youngha way too much.
Anyway, Seo Jaewon did his best to delay and delay.
He dawdled in the shower, ate alone at the cafeteria, finished his strategy reports earlier than usual, and hung around the Esper training ground to create a new exercise routine for Guides.
He even visited Hwi Sara, who was perfectly fine but just slacking off.
During all that, Seo Jaewon didn’t neglect his monitoring of Joo Youngha.
There are things you have to do even if you hate them, and for now, that was something he could do without seeing his face…
‘This guy is stuck in his room again.’
Looking at the vital watch, it seemed Joo Youngha hadn’t left his dorm room all day.
The location marker didn’t move at all.
He was always that kind of guy.
It was good because he was easy to manage, but…
That makes me want to go home even less!
The problem was that this guy was his roommate in the first place.
It was hard not to see someone you lived in the same house with.
‘Ah, damn it. Give Guides the freedom to choose their housing too…’
Seo Jaewon paced in front of the door, lost in thought.
Yesterday, he went in late and pretended to sleep after locking the door, but doing that again today was a bit awkward.
Wouldn’t it be too obvious two days in a row?
But then again, Joo Youngha probably wouldn’t care…
“Oh, whatever.”
It was his dorm too, and it was annoying that he was the only one acting like this.
Seo Jaewon mustered up his courage, opened the front door, and peeked inside.
Of course, he opened it extremely carefully so as not to make a sound.
“…”
Seeing how dark it was, it seemed Joo Youngha was already asleep.
A sigh of relief escaped him.
At the same time, he felt pathetic.
No, he was the one who “stood up,” so why am I acting like this?
‘Just until today. From tomorrow, I’ll really treat him like normal.’
He still needed time to prepare his heart.
As he was about to take off his shoes with that thought, a soft voice spoke from right beside him.
“Jaewon.”
“Aaaack!”
Seo Jaewon tripped over his half-off sneakers, wobbled pathetically on one leg, and fell.
In the process, the coat rack he grabbed fell over with ridiculous ease, crashing down and hitting him on the forehead.
“Ow!”
“What are you doing?”
Joo Youngha squatted in front of the fallen Seo Jaewon and stared at him intently with clear eyes.
“What? Me—what do you mean what am I doing?! What about you, what are you doing!”
I don’t even know what I’m saying…!
He was embarrassed, flustered, and his mind was a mess.
Joo Youngha reached out a snow-white hand toward him.
* * *
