By Zephyria 
‘What do I do? Am I really already kicked out?’
The screen was filled with desperate messages reeking of alcohol, but it was a one-sided conversation. There was no reply, and unable to hide his panic, he hurriedly tapped on his character; his affiliated Alliance was still correctly listed as 47.
“I’m asking who called you!”
Just as he felt a wave of relief, Kwon Mi-eon was making a scene beside him. Startled by a tone that had grown much sharper than before, Mo Yeon-hu’s mouth hung open.
“Well…”
In truth, there was no need to tell Kwon Mi-eon, but wasn’t he the grateful person who had personally driven him home in this urgent situation?
‘I should just say someone.’
However, he felt that if he honestly said a game acquaintance called him and that’s why he was rushing home, it would look strange.
“Just… someone I know.”
“Someone you know called you home at this hour, so you have to go quickly?”
“Yeah.”
“Just who on earth…”
“Oh, we’re here! Thanks for the ride!”
He had arrived just as things were getting awkward. Perfect timing. This was only possible because the meeting spot was not far from Mo Yeon-hu’s house to begin with.
“Hyung!!”
“See you next time!”
Mo Yeon-hu leaped out of the car. When in doubt, fleeing is the best option. Although he was awake, his body hadn’t fully recovered from the alcohol, and his steps were still staggering.
“Hyung, you’re going to fall! Wait a second!”
Kwon Mi-eon called out to Mo Yeon-hu anxiously from behind, but he only ran forward.
(CH03) 0momo0: I’m on my way now
As soon as he entered the building, he pressed the elevator button and sent a message, but there was still no reply.
‘I have to get in before Miu logs on.’
If he logged in first, it would be awkward for Miu to ask if he had violated the terms. While he watched the floor indicator anxiously, the elevator finally arrived. The moment Mo Yeon-hu stepped in quickly, pressed the top floor, and hit the close button—
Clunk. The elevator stopped while closing. Confused, Mo Yeon-hu’s eyes widened as the doors opened again.
“Hyung.”
It was Kwon Mi-eon. Why did he follow him all the way here? While he was wondering, the other man held something out.
“Your hat. You left it behind.”
“Right…”
His hat was gripped in Kwon Mi-eon’s hand.
“Thanks.”
As he took the hat in a daze, the doors began to close again with perfect timing. Seeing Kwon Mi-eon gradually disappear beyond the closing doors, Mo Yeon-hu felt a pang of guilt.
“I’ll contact you next ti… huh?”
But the doors between the two began to open once more. Looking down, he saw that Kwon Mi-eon had somehow jammed his foot right in the middle of the elevator.
Then, leaning his hand against the elevator door, Kwon Mi-eon tilted his head slightly.
“When is ‘next time’?”
“Just, next time…”
“You’re not going to contact me again, are you?”
He had no answer for that. It wasn’t just for a day or two that he had been ignoring Kwon Mi-eon’s DMs.
“I really will this time. I’ll do it when I get home. I’ll do it tomorrow, too.”
But there was no time to soothe him further.
‘Please just let go, a rabbit-like devil is waiting for me in Zombie Village…’
When he looked at him, promising firmly, Kwon Mi-eon stared back intently and shifted his gaze. It was a reaction that suggested he hadn’t expected such a compliant answer. Mo Yeon-hu felt a slight prick of conscience.
“Satisfied? I’m going now, so let go.”
Mo Yeon-hu gestured with his chin toward the hand blocking the door. Kwon Mi-eon slowly let go. Just as the elevator doors were about to close—
Clunk. How wonderful it would have been if they had just closed completely.
“Why again…!”
Kwon Mi-eon was poking his head in, holding the door again!
Mo Yeon-hu was becoming increasingly frantic. He had to get there quickly and act as if nothing was wrong—as if he had entered as fast as possible—before Miu logged on, but Kwon Mi-eon kept holding him back, driving him crazy.
“But Hyung, I came all the way here, and you won’t even give me a glass of water? I gave you medicine because you said your head hurt and your stomach felt bad, and I drove you all the way here…”
Mo Yeon-hu flinched at Kwon Mi-eon’s words.
“How can you just say a quick goodbye and disappear immediately?”
He wanted to argue that he never asked for a ride, that Kwon Mi-eon had just given him one, but…
“I’m a little hurt…”
Look at that expression. Mo Yeon-hu hesitated at the gaze looking at him with a slight tilt of the head, as if he were truly disappointed.
He occasionally thought that Kwon Mi-eon had a thousand different faces. Seeing him look at him with those drooping eyelids and eyes like an abandoned puppy, he couldn’t bring himself to tell him to move.
“…Then do you want to come in for some water?”
Eventually, giving up on everything, Mo Yeon-hu gestured for him to come inside.
“Yes.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Kwon Mi-eon hopped into the elevator.
“This is the first time you’ve invited me to your house, Hyung.”
“This isn’t an invitation.”
It was absurd. He felt he had been played, as the gloomy face had instantly brightened, but it was already too late.
“You’re really just drinking water and leaving… No. Do you want to take something with you? If there’s anything you want, take it. I have a lot of things I don’t use.”
“I can take things?”
“Yeah. I have plenty of unopened diffusers, and do you like fruit? Take a few baskets. They just rot anyway… Or side dishes? I have a lot of side dishes I haven’t touched. Oh, right. I have alcohol too. Do you like drinking?”
Since he had given him a ride, Mo Yeon-hu rambled on, telling him to take whatever he wanted. It was true that he felt sorry and grateful.
“Also supplements and, what else… I have some shakes and perfume samples, anyway, take whatever you need!”
“If you give everything away like that, how are you going to get by, Hyung?”
“Well, I…”
“Then can I take you too, Hyung?”
While watching Mo Yeon-hu chatter away, his face still flushed from the lingering alcohol, Kwon Mi-eon tossed out the words.
“Why would you take me…?”
“You said I could take whatever I wanted.”
“Wow, you really are something.”
Mo Yeon-hu finally burst into a hearty laugh. Between his disheveled hair, his flushed white face seemed to round out even more.
“The way you talk is seriously hilarious…”
As he leaned against the wall and laughed softly, drained of energy, Mo Yeon-hu’s body swayed gently. Kwon Mi-eon did not take his eyes off him until they stepped out.
“Come in.”
As the elevator doors opened, a high ceiling filled his vision. There was only one unit per floor. Passing through the connected entrance, they walked down a smooth marble hallway toward the kitchen.
“Have some of this and rest before you go.”
Mo Yeon-hu offered a glass of water and suggested he sit on the living room sofa, but Kwon Mi-eon seemed to have no intention of doing so.
As if the vast living room or the night view beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows didn’t matter, his gaze was fixed on the frames.
On one side of the living room, frames filled the wall densely, like a gallery. At a glance, the composition looked like ordinary family photos, but upon closer inspection, they were strange. This was because the person standing next to the man and woman changed in each photo.
“Ah, those are family photos,” Mo Yeon-hu said calmly. Indeed, it was obvious just by looking at them.
“My parents’ history is a bit… colorful.”
The fact that Mo Yeon-hu’s parents had remarried many times.
The father in the frames had changed his tuxedo four times, smiling with different women, and the mother was also smiling brightly, holding the hands of three different men. And Mo Yeon-hu was positioned between them; every time Mo Yeon-hu grew a few inches, the faces of the parents standing beside him changed.
‘I should have cleared them out long ago.’
Still, since they were photos with faces in them, it felt awkward to throw them away, so he just kept adding them. Part of him also wanted to see how far it would go.
As a result, the colorful marriage history of his parents hung like medals in the middle of Mo Yeon-hu’s living room.
‘I wonder what he’ll say.’
Mo Yeon-hu glanced sideways at Kwon Mi-eon.
Usually, people showed various reactions when encountering those photos. Some said it must have been hard, some said remarriage isn’t a flaw these days, and then…
‘Wow, look at that lineup. So that’s why you have so much money?’
There were those who crossed the line in various ways.
“You were incredibly cute when you were little, Hyung.”
Kwon Mi-eon was different. He was staring intently at the five-year-old Mo Yeon-hu in the very first wedding photo, taken before the parents’ subsequent remarriages.
“Are there more photos from this time? You’re so cute.”
Mo Yeon-hu was the one flustered by the attitude of asking for more childhood photos.
‘Why isn’t he saying anything else?’
There were even famous people who appeared frequently on TV in those photos.
“Is this from when you were a student? Why don’t you age, Hyung?”
“….”
“Hyung?”
Kwon Mi-eon’s gaze was directed solely at the young Mo Yeon-hu.
“That… it is from when I was a student, but.”
“Cute.”
Kwon Mi-eon admired the photo as if it were too cute. Because he kept asking, “How old were you here? And here?”, Mo Yeon-hu answered each one, eventually feeling somewhat embarrassed.
“Hmm, hmmm.”
It felt strange. Mo Yeon-hu cleared his throat for no reason, awkwardly fiddled with his hair, checked the clock, and stood up.
“…Anyway, drink your water and rest before you go!”
Mo Yeon-hu hurried toward the computer room. However.
“Why are you following me?”
He asked in confusion because Kwon Mi-eon was trailing after him instead of drinking the water, but Kwon Mi-eon was constantly looking around.
“Where are they?”
“Who?”
“The person who called you at this hour.”
Mo Yeon-hu wondered what he was talking about, then realized belatedly.
‘Ah, he thought there was someone else in the house.’
Because he had glossed over it fearing it would seem strange, it seemed he had completely misunderstood.
“Where is that strange person?”
“Well, it’s… that person isn’t strange.”
“Then what?”
“I just made a promise.”
“A promise?”
“Yeah. I agreed to help with something, and I received an urgent request today.”
“Huh? So they always call you out like this using a ‘promise’ as an excuse?”
“Not that often…”
“How many times a day?”
Since he had never counted, he remained silent.
“You can’t even count them?”
Kwon Mi-eon had a look of utter disbelief.
“Is that why you lost weight, Hyung? Because you have to run like a five-minute standby crew whenever that person calls?”
“….”
“Wow. If someone who isn’t family or even a friend is staying here, they’re imposing on you, Hyung. And yet you have to run every time they call. I’d really like to see what kind of per… person they are.”
“….”
“Does that person not know how to do anything on their own? They’re an adult, right? Then they must be old enough, so why are they calling you out at this dawn? For you to come back looking this pale, were you perhaps threatened? Then they’re truly the scum of the earth.”
Kwon Mi-eon spoke loudly on purpose so he could be heard, glancing around every corner of the house.