By Zephyria 
After that, Cha Jeong-won fell silent.
He just looked quietly at Haon. It was an expression that seemed to desperately wish for something, to be precise, he had been making that face ever since Haon had suddenly suggested they perform a doppelganger ritual.
“Kiss.”
He repeated the same word in a low voice.
The now-familiar Alpha’s scent grew even thicker.
“That’s the only word I can think of.”
Haon glanced down at the paper. K and I were written side by side.
“With KI, all sorts of things come to mind.”
“For example?”
“Kids. Kiosk. Kitchen. Kiwi.”
Haon’s words were longer than usual. He pretended to be calm and listed various things, but the more he did, the more flustered he seemed.
“Why does it have to be only ‘kiss’?”
Cha Jeong-won replied nonchalantly.
“Isn’t ‘kids’ too far off for us? Wait, should we start thinking seriously about that now?”
“It’s fine.”
I was wrong.
“Even all of them combined can’t beat ‘kiss’.”
There was no more room for excuses.
“Even a ghost knows there’s no need to take a roundabout route.”
“Do you also see personalities in the doppelganger ritual?”
He had been incredulous, asking what kind of doppelganger ritual this was, so why was he suddenly pretending to believe in it?
The pen and paper lay alone in the middle of the dining table. For some reason, Haon felt like laughing. Cha Jeong-won still wore an annoyed expression.
Haon folded the paper and gave it a quick shake.
“I think it’s best to stop the doppelganger ritual for today.”
“Finally, you’re talking sense.”
“This should count as mission clear. Even a ghost would find it a bit much to get overly invested in our lives. It’s also an invasion of privacy.”
Haon smiled playfully. The corners of his mouth were slightly upturned, but his heart was acting on its own. The impact of the word ‘kiss’ was stronger than he’d thought.
“So, to summarize, the conclusion of today’s ritual is K and I.”
Cha Jeong-won crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.
The Alpha’s scent and the Omega’s scent overlapped in the middle of the air. His mind considered it an experiment, but it felt like his heart was the one most accurately accepting this situation.
Haon’s gaze was strangely clear.
“Can I offer one serious opinion?”
“You said you were serious until just now.”
“That was seriousness in front of a ghost. This is seriousness in front of my senior.”
Even while saying something nonsensical, Haon’s expression looked quite serious.
“We’re trying all sorts of things to cut off our bad luck, right? That makes me think maybe trying a completely different direction could also be a method.”
“That’s why we did this too.”
“Right. So, by any chance, if you know any shamans around…”
“We should do the kiss first.”
Cha Jeong-won pulled Haon’s arm.
“The ghost wrote the guideline.”
“It’s not a guideline, it’s scribbling… You really didn’t write this, did you, senior? I can’t believe this.”
Skin-ship, good. Of course it’s good, but he wondered if it was okay for things to end with just skin-ship before even trying to find other methods.
For some reason, he felt an indescribably complicated emotion.
“Maybe finding a fortune-teller is still…”
“Yoon Haon.”
Cha Jeong-won leaned his body towards Haon. The distance between them narrowed ambiguously.
Just a little closer, and their lips would touch.
“The kiss comes first.”
Even though he said it like a joke, Cha Jeong-won didn’t smile. Only his eyes shone clearly.
“K. I…”
Cha Jeong-won’s gaze moved from Haon’s eyes to his lips and back up again.
An Alpha’s instinct tightened around his nape. If he kissed him now, the pheromones would react regardless of emotion. A kiss without any emotion would be a lie.
“Wait! There’s also ‘kill’!”
Haon hastily blurted out, but the words vanished the moment their lips touched.
At first, it was just a truly light touch.
Haon’s eyelids fluttered.
He had intended to touch briefly and pull away, but the moment they touched, all the scenarios he had imagined fell apart completely.
The pheromones spiked.
Haon’s sweet scent spread first, and Cha Jeong-won’s heavy scent pressed down and covered it. The moment they mixed, the air grew warm. Their breaths released all at once.
Electricity ran up Haon’s spine.
“Hah…”
A short breath escaped.
Cha Jeong-won inhaled that breath directly.
The kiss was not shallow.
As Cha Jeong-won deeply overlapped their lips, Haon opened his lips as if it were natural. Their tongues brushed against each other, spreading a sweet heat.
Was it because they were already lovers who had gone all the way? Even with just this much, their bodies immediately found the way.
A thick tongue moved as if filling his mouth. It swept across the roof of his mouth, found the soft flesh, and pressed gently, their tongues briefly tangling before slowly unraveling again.
His heart pounded loudly.
Thump, thump, thump.
The kiss was good. It was soft and sweet. It felt as if Cha Jeong-won, without rushing, slowly swept over Haon’s lips and asked if it was even better.
Haon grabbed the hem of Cha Jeong-won’s clothes.
Cha Jeong-won bit Haon’s lower lip very lightly and then released it.
The sweetness deepened. The pheromones deepened even more. The air between them grew dense, so breaths connected before words could.
Cha Jeong-won pulled back first. The moment their lips parted, silence swirled again.
Haon, who had unknowingly closed his eyes, let out a trembling breath.
“There’s nothing.”
At Cha Jeong-won’s muttering, Haon shook his head.
“There is.”
“What is it?”
“That nothing happened.”
It would be nice if it brought good luck, but it was enough that bad luck didn’t come.
Haon slyly opened one eye and smiled.
“We’re perfectly fine right now, aren’t we? Right?”
Then, Cha Jeong-won pulled Haon’s waist closer.
“Hearing you say that makes me want to do it even more. Because I have too much bad luck attached to me.”
Haon wrapped his arms around Cha Jeong-won’s neck and tilted his head.
“That’s true too.”
The two embraced and kissed.
Thud.
A sound came from the direction of the bedroom, but it was too faint for either of them to hear.
The box under the bed.
Talismans were stuck to that box, and one of them looked like it was about to fall off any moment. As if someone had tried to peel the talisman off here and there, the edges were lifted, with only the center barely attached.
But neither Haon nor Cha Jeong-won knew that fact. They didn’t pay attention, thinking it was probably stuck on well anyway.
But today was different.
As if the lifted corner could no longer hold on, the remaining attached part also tore and fell off.
Tock, it fell lightly to the floor without a sound.
Now, only two talismans remained.
“If you keep touching me like that… Hng.”
With Haon’s moan, the edge of one of the attached talismans tok, fell off.
＊ ＊ ＊
Monday morning.
Haon, who went to the lecture hall with Cha Jeong-won, wrapped his arm around the neck of Kim Hyun-gyu, who was approaching him.
“I have something to say.”
Kim Hyun-gyu, suddenly put in a headlock, pretended to be overpowered and was dragged along.
Arriving at the vending machine in the hallway, Haon inserted money and pressed a button. Kim Hyun-gyu leaned against the vending machine and subtly looked at Haon.
“What do you have to say that you’re pushing a drink on me like this first thing in the morning? Soda this early…”
Kim Hyun-gyu stared blankly at the drink Haon held out, then accepted it. Then, he cheerfully popped the can open and took a refreshing gulp.
“I’m dating senior.”
At Haon’s direct pitch, Kim Hyun-gyu’s throat convulsed violently.
For a moment, Kim Hyun-gyu’s eyes widened, and he immediately covered his mouth.
“Ghk.”
He almost spat out what he had just drunk.
Kim Hyun-gyu hurriedly rubbed his throat. He had swallowed it, but it seemed too much, as he kept coughing.
Haon subtly took a few steps back.
“What did you say.”
“I said we’re dating.”
Haon replied, trying hard to sound calm.
Once he actually said it, strangely, his heart settled down a bit.
Kim Hyun-gyu paused, then opened his eyes even wider.
“Wow… Really?”
Haon quickly pressed down on Kim Hyun-gyu’s shoulder.
“Lower your voice.”
“No, wait a minute.”
Haon didn’t let Kim Hyun-gyu finish his sentence.
“You’re the first one I’m telling.”
At those words, Kim Hyun-gyu’s pupils shook violently.
His face couldn’t decide whether to be moved or excited.
In the end, excitement won.
Kim Hyun-gyu threw away the empty can and wiped the corner of his mouth with his hand.
Then he approached Haon and whispered.
“Since when.”
“Not long.”
“How long is not long?”
“I said not long.”
Upon hearing Haon’s answer, Kim Hyun-gyu made a face that seemed somehow overwhelmed.
“What’s wrong? Didn’t you expect this?”
Haon couldn’t understand why Kim Hyun-gyu was so surprised.
Honestly, given how much he had been hanging around Cha Jeong-won, how many times had Kim Hyun-gyu teased him about it?
“That’s because you kept saying no…”
Kim Hyun-gyu looked like he was about to pour out his grievances, but a group of people from the same department happened to be approaching the vending machine.
One of them recognized Haon and waved.
“It’s Yoon Haon.”
Haon reflexively smiled.
“How have you been?”
But he didn’t forget to cover Kim Hyun-gyu’s mouth with his palm.
Kim Hyun-gyu just rolled his eyes around.
His friend’s lover is that Cha Jeong-won?
Haon gritted his teeth and whispered.
“If you’re worried about me, I’m fine, so there’s no need to get excited or go wild. Got it?”
Kim Hyun-gyu just blinked his eyes, as if he didn’t understand.