“I’m the shortest, so I’ll sleep with Hyung.”
It was baffling what he meant by ‘shortest’ when there was only about a 1 to 2 cm difference between them.
Moreover, was it even appropriate to use such an expression for someone over 190 cm tall?
Cha Rui, seeing his expression, twisted one corner of his mouth in disbelief.
His eyes, showing his fangs while openly sneering, were sharply focused.
“Stop your nonsense and put your hand down.”
I thought something was off, and just then, a trivial verbal battle began between the two.
No, could you even call this a verbal battle?
Honestly, watching them exchange sarcastic remarks was utterly childish.
It was baffling why they weren’t even considering me sleeping alone.
I was the one who brought the tents, but they were fighting over spots, leaving me out of the picture.
‘The Guild members and the public should see this scene.’
In my heart, I wanted to shove them together and tell them to share, but it was obvious that I would spend the entire night breaking up their fight and wouldn’t get a wink of sleep.
I thought about sharing with Woo Jaehyun again, but judging by Cha Rui’s reaction, he wouldn’t let it go.
I needed to explain a plausible reason, but nothing came to mind.
‘Ha… is there no choice?’
“Stop fighting. If you really want to, then play rock-paper-scissors.”
I blurted out the suggestion just to diffuse the situation, but the expressions of the two simultaneously twisted.
Their reaction was clearly not satisfactory; they looked like they absolutely didn’t want to do it.
“How about we fight 1-on-1, and the first person to collapse loses?”
“Then I’ll use the tent alone.”
As expected, Woo Jaehyun showed his dissatisfaction, but I answered firmly.
The journey ahead was vast, and any unnecessary waste of energy was absolutely unacceptable. Injuries were out of the question.
At my sharp reaction, the two guys quickly shut up as if nothing had happened.
They eventually shuffled and faced each other, showing how much they really disliked sharing a tent.
Just as they were raising their fists to end the argument, Do Soohyuk, who had been quiet all along, suddenly intervened and raised his hand to join them.
The already tense atmosphere instantly turned hostile.
“F*, seriously.”
Sharp glares were shot at Do Soohyuk’s outstretched hand, but he didn’t care at all.
Instead, he lightly shook his fist, leading the situation, and Woo Jaehyun and Cha Rui instinctively extended their hands.
“…”
Everything happened so fast.
It was surprising enough to see the S-rank gather to play rock-paper-scissors, but the result unfolding before my eyes was even more bewildering.
While Woo Jaehyun and Cha Rui threw out a fist, Do Soohyuk was the only one with his palm open.
The one who had stood back watching, as if it were someone else’s problem, ultimately took the victory.
A suffocating silence descended on the cave.
And the one who broke the silence, as always, was Woo Jaehyun.
“Hyung, I’ll give in. Just sleep comfortably in my tent.”
He spoke as if he were being generous, but I couldn’t possibly misunderstand his true intentions.
Honestly, I briefly considered accepting it now, pretending I couldn’t win, but that would only encourage further conflict.
After all the rock-paper-scissors, suddenly deciding to sleep alone would only make the atmosphere stranger.
“It’s fine… just take this.”
In the end, I hesitated for a moment, then picked up one tent and handed it to Woo Jaehyun.
The guy, who took the tent somewhat bewilderedly, narrowed his eyes and subtly glared at me, clearly not pleased.
Regardless of his reaction, I handed another one to Cha Rui, and only then did I begin assembling my own tent.
Both initially looked full of complaints, but soon I heard rustling noises as they started unpacking their tents.
Clatter.
I had some experience setting up tents in my previous world, so it didn’t take as long as I thought.
I never imagined that my experience working at an outdoor goods store would shine through like this.
Borrowing Do Soohyuk’s slightly clumsy help, the tent quickly took shape.
Do Soohyuk seemed completely new to all this, but he still offered an unpracticed hand to help me.
And so, by driving in the final peg, the tent was completed.
Normally, this stone floor would be impossible, but when I pressed the pegs down with my hands, they went in smoothly, as if the ground were made of sand.
‘Being an Awakened is convenient at times like this.’
I turned my head with a sense of quiet satisfaction, but my expression hardened at the sight right next to me.
A flimsy piece of junk was precariously standing there.
That thing, which looked like it would collapse with a gentle nudge, was surprisingly Woo Jaehyun’s tent.
Cha Rui’s tent was at least somewhat shaped, but Woo Jaehyun’s could barely be called a tent.
It was clear he had haphazardly put it together because he genuinely didn’t want to.
“Are you seriously going to sleep in that?”
I was so dumbfounded that I looked at it with vacant eyes.
No matter how much he disliked it, that level of assembly meant a person couldn’t even enter.
“No, of course, I’m going to sleep next to Hyung.”
Woo Jaehyun replied indifferently and sat down right next to my tent.
The way he stretched out his legs and even crossed his arms suggested he genuinely intended to sleep like that.
I felt hollow wondering why I had bothered bringing three tents if this was the case.
Knowing that whatever I said now would be useless, I shook my head and turned away.
‘If he sleeps outside, it’s his loss, anyway.’
I tried to ignore it and took out the things I had packed from my item pouch, pushing them into the tent.
It was just a thick blanket and a neck pillow, but even that made the tent feel quite cozy.
I finished tidying up and motioned to Chirpy, who immediately scampered into the tent.
He seemed quite tired from emitting light for several hours, and his eyes were full of sleepiness.
Feeling sorry for him, I pulled out a sheepskin cushion for him.
“You worked hard too, Chirpy.”
Chrip…
I stroked the little bird, who was curled up on the cushion, and then subtly glanced toward the entrance.
Do Soohyuk hadn’t come inside yet; I wondered where he went.
‘Is he perhaps waiting for me to finish organizing?’
Feeling unnecessarily concerned, I meaninglessly smoothed the blanket I had spread out and looked around the tent.
‘It’s narrower than I thought.’
Since it was a single-person tent, the space was cramped for two adult men to sleep in.
No matter which angle I lay at, only a position where we were pressed close together was possible.
It was funny to have this worry after being held in his arms and waking up twice already, but the situation was very different now.
As I was rubbing my lips, lost in thought, I sensed a presence behind me.
Do Soohyuk, who seemed to have finished up outside, quietly entered.
Ziiiip.
He immediately pulled up the tent zipper, and as the entrance was blocked, the already small interior felt even more confined.
His presence was excessively clear even in the darkness.
“…”
Do Soohyuk, kneeling, turned around and stared at my waist with a strange look.
I cautiously followed his gaze and saw that he was staring intently at the doll hanging on my hip.
It was the doll that Cha Rui and I had each won from a crane game.
He had never spared it a glance, despite me wearing it every day, but he was showing interest belatedly.
‘Did he suddenly become curious where it came from?’
If he just asked me directly, I would answer, but he just stared silently.
But I couldn’t just keep doing this.
I was pressed against the corner as much as possible in the silence, and I cautiously started to move.
Even if I didn’t want to make the atmosphere awkward, that was not something I could control.
“I’ll sleep on this side.”
I crawled on all fours, keeping my eyes fixed on the floor, and found my spot.
I thought about saying good night, but I ultimately curled up and turned to face the wall.
It wasn’t the right atmosphere, and I couldn’t bring myself to speak.
I tried hard to close my eyes and fall asleep, but my attention was entirely focused on Do Soohyuk behind me.
The thing was, I could only hear his faint breathing, and no other presence was felt.
‘Why is he so quiet?’
If he were preparing to sleep, there should normally be some rustling sounds.
That meant he was still sitting there without moving. In this situation, there was no way I could fall asleep.
“Do Su…”
It was the moment I finally decided to awkwardly sit up.
A warm sensation was felt from behind, and soon a thick body wrapped around my entire back.
I was surprised and tried to turn around, but his arm wrapped around my waist even faster.
He was so heavy that the force of his pull literally pressed my entire body close to him.
He was steadily putting more strength into his arm, as if trying to trap me in his embrace.
Perhaps because of this, Do Soohyuk’s hot body heat was clearly transmitted through my back.
His touch was laced with urgency.
“…”
Despite me selfishly avoiding an answer to his confession, his attitude had been consistently the same.
He didn’t rush me, and it seemed he never intended to force an answer in the first place.
But now, anyone could tell that his patience had reached its limit.
Perhaps this was the first time he had revealed the emotions he had suppressed all this time.
It felt a little late, but I planned to give an answer to the three of them once this whole ordeal was over.
If I did, I wouldn’t be able to stay close to them or remain by their side like this.
However, I didn’t want to be selfish any longer just because I was afraid of the reaction I would receive.
The situation was gradually turning into me giving ambiguous hints.
The result of continuously pretending not to notice and postponing the issue turned out to be detrimental.
This change in my thoughts had occurred since my father collapsed.
The heart that was filled with greed had quickly crumbled like a sandcastle at that point.
I realized my place and deeply felt how wrong my desire was.
