By Zephyria He had been bold enough to hug him, which was fine. Lee Sa-young hadn’t pushed him away immediately, which wasn’t bad either. But the problem was that not only Sa-young’s body but also Eui-jae’s had stiffened considerably, making it feel like two solid logs were standing with their bodies overlapping.
Lee Sa-young’s body, where it touched, was colder than normal body temperature. Like a dead person. A chill ran down his neck. Eui-jae bit his lip. He quickly became anxious, and his mouth felt parched.
‘…No, Lee Sa-young is alive.’
Without realizing it, Eui-jae tightened his arms around him and focused on the pulse throbbing in his neck. Thump, thump, thump…. He closed his eyes, feeling the strangely rapid beat.
The twitching movements of well-defined muscles whenever he patted and stroked his back, the intermittent low breaths. The sweet scent. The pale skin that warmed slightly wherever Cha Eui-jae’s body heat touched. Proof of survival.
It was the moment Eui-jae tilted his head to hear the heartbeat a little better.
Thwack!
A strong force shoved his right shoulder hard. Eui-jae, pushed back as he was, widened his eyes. Lee Sa-young remained frozen with his hand outstretched. The black fingertips were slightly curled.
The two of them, standing still with the distance between them, met each other’s gaze. The violet eyes were slightly widened. Eui-jae also rolled his eyes, seeing that the one who had pushed him was more flustered.
‘Did I hug him for too long?’
The shoulder pushed by Sa-young’s hand throbbed achingly. Since his body didn’t even get scratched by most attacks, this level of pain was rare. Eui-jae rubbed his shoulder with his palm. Lee Sa-young’s gaze followed each movement intently.
If it hadn’t been Cha Eui-jae who was pushed, the other person would have been sent flying and slammed into the pile of luggage long ago. Their shoulder bones might have been shattered completely. Should he advise him to be careful with his strength when pushing people? Or should he pretend to be in more pain? But because of Sa-young’s unusual demeanor, he couldn’t do anything.
He seemed somehow… anxious.
“……”
Lee Sa-young stood there, staring blankly at Cha Eui-jae, still in the posture of having pushed him away. He didn’t even know if his last resort had worked or not.
But right now, the priority was to soothe that crazy brat’s mood, rather than teaching Lee Sa-young a lesson or trying to outdo him. Well, it was a relief he hadn’t been slammed into the luggage. With that positive conclusion, Eui-jae finished his assessment and nonchalantly dusted off his shoulder.
“Are you feeling better now?”
Sa-young’s shoulder twitched. A moment later, he clenched his fist and sneered with a fierce look.
“Hyung, do you have no learning ability?”
He had been trying to let it go smoothly, but why was this crazy brat suddenly attacking his perfectly fine intelligence? Eui-jae, who had been wearing a relaxed smile, immediately frowned.
“Hey, why is learning ability coming up here?”
“You’re making it seem like it was only a few years ago that you were vomiting blood….”
“Blood?”
Eui-jae frowned and repeated the word, then Ah. He let out a short exclamation. Sa-young seemed to be referring to the time he had vomited blood during their last contract.
Thanks to the ‘Basilisk’s Poison’ trait, he had developed a resistance, so Sa-young’s Poison was no longer a concern for Eui-jae. What he was concerned about was….
Sa-young continued to sneer without closing the distance.
“What are you going to do if you vomit blood here?”
“……”
“Why, are you going to leave the cleanup to me too?”
“……”
“Even though the Antidote doesn’t work….”
“No, Sa-young.”
Eui-jae, who had inadvertently called out to Sa-young, shut his mouth tightly. Even if Lee Sa-young knew that Eui-jae was hiding his strength, he couldn’t reveal the existence of his Antidote trait to him.
‘That’s fucking suspicious.’
A trait that immediately detoxifies S-class Poison and even creates resistance. Even if he was a Hunter hiding his strength, wouldn’t it sound suspicious just to hear about it?
“……”
A brief silence fell. Sa-young no longer snapped at him, but kept his mouth shut and looked at Eui-jae.
Well, he must have been surprised since the person he had even given the Antidote to was on the verge of death in front of his eyes because he couldn’t withstand the Poison. The Ambrosia must have been a waste too…. He had reason to keep dwelling on it. Eui-jae shrugged.
“No… I’m really okay. Your Poison isn’t that dangerous anymore.”
Eui-jae spoke the truth, but Sa-young seemed even more uncomfortable. Sa-young, who had his hands in his pockets, muttered in a low voice.
“Aha… is that why you were vomiting so much blood?”
“I’m not like that now. I’m telling you I’m okay.”
“I don’t want to be cleaning up corpses even here.”
Eui-jae tried to argue further, but Sa-young didn’t seem willing to listen. Instead, he silently grabbed the registered tickets for Eui-jae and himself.
The moment Sa-young tore the corners of the two tickets at once, the surrounding scenery twisted and sank to the floor, and a new landscape stacked up in its place. Where the boxes had been piled up in disarray, there were long sofas and tables, and where the dusty, dark alley walls had been, there were clean walls and bright lights.
In a short moment, they were in a spacious waiting room-like space. Black letters appeared one by one on the neatly wallpapered white walls.
《Artisan Exhibition Participant
Isolation Room
Waiting Room》
This waiting room was personally created by Hong Ye-seong.
Each waiting room can only be entered with an authentication ticket.
Please wait in each waiting room until the Artisan Exhibition begins.
If you escape from the waiting room and cause problems, you may be punished under the Awakened Special Act.
If you think a conflict will arise, please evacuate to your personal waiting room and contact the Awakened Management Bureau ^^
‘Isolation Room’ was underlined. Eui-jae was examining the letters written on the wall and the suddenly appearing interior of the waiting room with suspicious eyes. Sa-young, who had familiarly examined the inside, pointed to the sofa.
“Sit down.”
“What is this place?”
“It’s written there. A waiting room.”
Sa-young added an explanation when Eui-jae still had a puzzled look on his face.
“Last time at the Artisan Exhibition, the building almost collapsed.”
“Why?”
“Because there was one crazy brat.”
The substantial chat from Jung-bin automatically came to mind. Were all the precautions written there really precautions learned from experience? What kind of battlefield was the last Artisan Exhibition?
And what kind of crazy brat was Lee Sa-young, who had threatened to bring him to such a place on a date? Whether Eui-jae was confused or not, Sa-young muttered nonchalantly.
“This time, they said they’d isolate us completely… they created a separate Shield like this. It’s like a hamster cage.”
According to him, last time they had put several super Hunter hamsters in one cage, and the building had almost collapsed and the Artisan Exhibition had almost failed. So this time, they were going to stick to the 1 hamster 1 cage policy.
It was good not to run into other people, but being alone in here with the twisted Lee Sa-young wasn’t very welcome. Eui-jae sat on the edge of the sofa, not erasing his suspicious look.
Sa-young, who had been watching Eui-jae with his arms crossed, said.
“Shirt.”
“Huh?”
“Take it off.”
Judging from the way he was gesturing towards his shoulder, he seemed to want to check the shoulder he had pushed earlier. Even though it throbbed intermittently, it would heal naturally over time. He didn’t want to take off his clothes either. Eui-jae unnecessarily swung his arm around greatly, showing off that he was okay.
“It wasn’t that hard of a hit.”
Sa-young muttered ominously.
“You better take it off before I take it off with my own hands….”
Eui-jae unknowingly clutched his jacket tightly.
“Hey, you didn’t take off your Gas mask earlier either.”
“Are that and this the same?”
“What’s the difference? Why don’t you believe me when I say I’m okay?”
“Like I’d believe that.”
Sa-young was sneering, but his gaze was fixed on Eui-jae’s shoulder. Eui-jae blurted out without even having time to take it back.
“Are you worried about me right now?”
“……”
Thud, Sa-young took a step forward. His black hand rested on the back of the sofa. Sa-young looked down at Eui-jae, who was sitting on the sofa, and only after a little time had passed did he answer.
“…Don’t be ridiculous.”
“……”
A moment later, Sa-young took his hand off the back of the sofa, took out his phone, moved his fingers a few times as if he had received a message from someone, and soon turned his body towards the door.
“…Just take a nap there. Don’t even think about going out and catching someone else’s eye.”
Creak, bang. The door closed firmly. He stared at the door for several minutes, but there was no sign that it would open again.
Only then did Eui-jae let out a long sigh and lie down on the sofa as if stretching out. His whole body was languid, as if he had been quite tense without realizing it. Left alone in his own space, Eui-jae quietly looked up at the ceiling.
Even though there was silence, he didn’t feel anxious now. Was it because he knew it was a Shield without any threats? A sensation he hadn’t felt in a long time came over him. It was stability.
And suddenly, a question he hadn’t thought about until now surfaced.
‘Why doesn’t Lee Sa-young… wonder about me?’
People would make excuses, saying it was to make better use of him, and pry into his ability. They tried to explore everything, asking what he could do with his strength, where his limits were.
But Lee Sa-young didn’t ask anything or try to use him properly. He must have already figured out that he was an Esper at a similar level to himself. Eui-jae put his arm under his head and turned to his side.
‘Isn’t it basic to figure out the other person’s specs before making a contract?’
Asking what kind of skills he had, what kind of traits he had, was the most basic thing, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of doing that at all. It was as if Lee Sa-young just needed Eui-jae’s existence itself.
Eui-jae spread out his right hand and quietly looked at his palm. A golden chain that seemed to be visible flickered. He deliberately clenched and unclenched his hand, but the golden chain still sparkled there. Once the thought started, it continued to follow.
‘Maybe he knows I’m J….’
No, that couldn’t be. If that were the case, he would have demanded something in exchange for keeping the secret long ago. But Lee Sa-young didn’t ask anything and only set the condition that he shouldn’t betray him.
‘Then why?’
After escaping from the Rift, Cha Eui-jae wanted to live a perfect everyday life. Quiet and peaceful. A life of faithfully living each day given to him, unrelated to Monsters or Rifts. And that simple life was more difficult to live than he thought, so he didn’t have the time to think about anything else for several months.
But from some point on, Lee Sa-young had squeezed into the gaps in his well-organized daily life. It was as if he had discovered that he had taken a corner as if he was also a part of that quiet life.
Before he knew it, Cha Eui-jae’s daily life was filled with Lee Sa-young. Eui-jae pondered that fact for a long time.
The black figure stood quietly among the piles of boxes in the secluded alley where he had been before tearing the ticket. There had been two of them earlier, but now he was alone. His eyes, which had been chasing the dust floating in the air, turned to the wall.
“…Yeah, Hyung is sorry.”
The firm arms that had wrapped around his body, the warmth that had touched his whole body, the hands that had repeatedly stroked his back, the quietly beating heartbeat, the soft hair that had touched his neck.
Crack, it was the moment Sa-young gritted his teeth. A voice whispering without inflection echoed through the alley.
“Guild Leader.”
A round head emerged from the shadow of Lee Sa-young, who had his arms crossed. It was Very Small Miracle Mingi Seo, who was supposed to be on an overseas business trip. Of course, he had only pretended to leave the country, stepping on the threshold of the plane and immediately infiltrating the Awakened Management Bureau.
Dressed in a neat suit, he crawled out of the shadow, stood on two feet, and put his hands behind his back.
“I was a little late because I was wrapping up what I was doing. I’m sorry.”
“Report.”
“Yes. First, please accept this.”
Lee Sa-young took the tablet that Min-gi Seo handed him. When he turned on the screen, a large red cursive font greeted him.
[J Tracking Report]
In front of Sa-young, who was staring intently at the screen, Min-gi Seo cleared his throat.
“Then I will begin the report.”