By Zephyria 
He couldn’t very well say,
‘I was looking for a cursed box.’
If he started explaining, he’d first have to explain what that box even was.
To do that, he’d have to bring up the story of Cha Jeong-won’s misfortune, and then mention things like his mother, the shaman, and the talisman.
Although Cha Jeong-won had mentioned the Omega Amulet before, Haon wasn’t confident he could convince him without bringing up the original novel.
After saying,
‘Senior, actually, I’m looking for an ominous object that reacts very strongly to your misfortune,’
and then,
‘How did I know? I read a novel where you’re the main character!’
It was all too obvious how that would sound to a sane person.
‘No. This isn’t it.’
Haon gently pushed the iron box back into the drawer.
Then he forced the corners of his mouth upward.
“I was just… looking around.”
Even to his own ears, it sounded like a pathetic answer.
Cha Jeong-won narrowed his eyes.
His gaze traveled from the drawer to Haon’s hand, then back to his face.
“Looking around?”
“Yes. I haven’t really had a proper look around your studio yet…”
Haon said, trying hard not to avert his eyes.
But his gaze kept wavering.
‘He won’t believe this.’
The conclusion was instantly reached in his mind.
So he had to find something else to say, and quickly.
‘Was I getting water? That makes no sense. It’d be weird to say I didn’t see the water right next to the sofa. Should I say I was looking for my phone? But I wasn’t looking for Cha Jeong-won’s phone, so no.’
Excuses popped into his head one by one and were quickly dismissed.
Then, the playful conversation they’d had earlier today suddenly came to mind.
―’Be sure to put your name tag on the commissioned piece. Otherwise, it’s mine.’
―’Should I engrave my name here too? Or maybe use a removable sticker?’
Haon curled and uncurled his fingers once.
“…I was looking for something to put a name tag on.”
The words blurted out.
At least this one had some context.
“A name tag?”
“Yes. Earlier, I asked you if I should engrave my name, remember?”
Haon continued a little more quickly.
“So I was wondering if you had any labels or stickers or something like that.”
Only after the words were out did he take a deep breath.
It was an excuse, but once said, it seemed somewhat plausible.
Cha Jeong-won was still looking at him.
His eyes were a bit sharper than before.
“You went through the drawers to look for a label?”
“I’m sorry for touching your things without permission. I just… wanted to secretly stick one on…”
Haon hastily added.
It grew quiet for a moment.
Cha Jeong-won rose from the sofa.
He stretched his languid body, rotated his waist once, and slowly walked toward the studio.
With each step, Haon’s heart moved in sync.
This was the face of the person he had just shared a kiss with, but also the owner of this studio.
He was the one harboring a secret that must not be discovered.
Cha Jeong-won, who had approached, stopped in front of the drawer.
He glanced inside the drawer, then looked at Haon again.
“Putting a name tag is a good idea.”
His tone was calm.
“But if you were looking for that, you should have opened that drawer first.”
He pointed with his chin to the opposite low chest of drawers.
Next to the drawer handle, a small label was attached that read ‘Stickers & Labels’.
‘It really is there.’
Haon’s face stiffened for a moment.
“I should have looked around once more before opening it. I went through everything for no reason. Haha.”
It was a laugh dripping with awkwardness.
Cha Jeong-won narrowed his eyes a little more and exhaled very slowly.
“You really want to put a name tag on?”
“Yes.”
This time, he answered without hesitation.
Because that part was sincere.
After answering and standing still, Cha Jeong-won raised his hand and lightly tapped Haon’s cheek.
“Then let’s look together.”
“…Together?”
“Yeah. It’s my drawer and my labels anyway.”
The words sounded strange.
The suggestion to look together felt like it meant looking for other things along with the labels, not just the labels.
Why, when he already knew exactly where the labels were?
Haon bit his lip once, then released it.
“Okay. Let’s do it together.”
He accepted, only because he couldn’t say he wanted to do it alone.
Causing this fuss over a box he didn’t even know was in the studio… he felt pathetic, but he kept moving so Cha Jeong-won wouldn’t grow suspicious.
‘Not now, but someday, I’ll definitely tell you. From the story of your misfortune to the story of that box. Until then… I’ll look into it a bit more on my own.’
Haon moved to get the labels Cha Jeong-won had just mentioned.
Outwardly, he looked like a lover looking for labels, but inwardly, he tightly clutched a worry he couldn’t tell anyone.
First, he took out a label and roughly wrote his name on it with a nearby ballpoint pen.
Now all that was left was to stick it on, but for some reason, he hesitated.
As he approached hesitantly, Cha Jeong-won was leaning against the desk, watching Haon.
“I’ll stick it on.”
Just as Haon mustered his courage and was about to stick a label on his body, his arm was grabbed and his face was lifted.
“You really were going to put a name tag on?”
As expected, Cha Jeong-won hadn’t completely shaken off his suspicion about Haon’s actions.
“T-this way, it feels more like we’re lovers or something,”
Haon said hurriedly, sticking the item in his hand onto Cha Jeong-won’s cheek with a tap.
The sensation of brushing against his soft skin seemed to linger on his fingertips. Haon unconsciously clenched his own hand.
“Tell me how it feels to have stuck it on.”
As if determined to play along, Cha Jeong-won turned his head so Haon could clearly see the item stuck on his face. In that state, he asked how it was, and now it was Haon’s turn to answer.
“It’s kind of… a strange feeling. It feels like Senior Jeong-won has really become mine, so should I say it’s peculiar yet satisfying?”
“What is that?”
“It’s not like I gave birth to Senior Jeong-won, but anyway, that’s how it feels.”
If he just focused on the current feeling… first of all, it felt good.
“So good that I want to stick more on.”
Haon clutched his own chest.
“I guess I have some strange preference I didn’t know about. So…”
“Possessiveness. Obsession.”
“That’s right, that’s it!”
Haon brightened up, saying it was accurate, then belatedly realized something strange.
“I’m not that kind of person.”
He tried to deny being someone with such traits, but Cha Jeong-won’s face showed no sign of belief.
It was even more unfair because it was this person, of all people, who didn’t believe him.
“I’m really not, okay? If we’re talking about obsession, it’s actually Senior who’s more…”
He stopped mid-sentence.
This, too, was information about Cha Jeong-won he knew through the original novel.
‘I’m going crazy because things I shouldn’t say keep popping out.’
Frantically, he searched his mind to see if he could have heard it from someone else, but there was none. Of course there wasn’t.
The Cha Jeong-won known to the world was someone who kept his relationships cleaner than anyone. So clean it bordered on coldness.
Just look earlier. He didn’t have people in to cook; he did it himself.
Even Haon, before recalling the original novel, had thought of Cha Jeong-won that way.
He didn’t keep most people by his side, and he certainly didn’t give a seat next to him to the Omega Amulet his mother had brought in.
He weeded out all suspicious individuals. The number of people remaining around him could be counted on one hand.
“What about me?”
As Haon struggled, unable to find the words, Cha Jeong-won provoked him as if telling him to finish what he was saying.
“More… you just have a face that looks like you’d be good at being obsessive.”
“My face?”
“Yes, your eyes, nose, and mouth.”
Even as he spoke, the corners of Haon’s mouth were drooping.
He knew this wasn’t the answer, but he’d thrown it out there, so that was that.
“Please be very obsessive with me.”
It was a joke he blurted out, hoping to recover somewhat.
“Really? You won’t regret it?”
But Cha Jeong-won seemed to take it seriously.
Somehow, judging by that reaction alone, it seemed like he was truly determined to be obsessive, so Haon rolled his eyes around.
‘Somehow, I think I dug my own trap…’
“Then what are you going to do at school?”
He touched on Haon’s earlier opinion about hiding.
“Well, we’ll still hide it, of course.”
He answered without thinking, and Cha Jeong-won reacted a beat late.
“Then I won’t be able to be obsessive.”
“But it’s also a bit much to reveal it. Absolutely don’t act like you know me, and let’s contact each other on chat to decide where to meet in advance. Is that okay?”
Cha Jeong-won looked somewhat displeased.
“It doesn’t seem necessary to go that far.”
Haon, watching his expression, forced the corners of his mouth upward.
“Isn’t it thrilling and fun?”
The actual thrill was when he was almost caught by Cha Jeong-won just now, but he thought this wouldn’t be easy either.