RFT 24

“Sa-hyun, listen carefully. Do you remember me saying before that I’m not from here?”

Do Ye-jun decided to first grab Cheon Sa-hyun’s attention. Just as he expected, Cheon Sa-hyun stopped his movements and looked at him.

He couldn’t read what was in those eyes at all. However, it was certain that Cheon Sa-hyun was waiting for the words that would follow.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner, but I’m really going to disappear from here soon. This body isn’t mine, so it’ll probably stay… do you know what I mean? Because I’m not Do Ye-jun…”

Just as he was about to ramble on and explain the fact that he wasn’t Do Ye-jun, Cheon Sa-hyun cut him off.

“When?”

“…Huh?”

Does he believe me?

“When are you disappearing?”

A flicker of displeasure crossed Cheon Sa-hyun’s eyes. However, Do Ye-jun brushed that aside and took the question as a positive sign. At least it seemed he believed his words for now.

The problem, however, was that Do Ye-jun himself didn’t know when he would be leaving this place.

“Uh… as for when…”

Do Ye-jun’s eyes darted around. Then, he spotted the clock on the wall.

The second hand ticked away at a steady pace.

The current time was 11:58.

“12 o’clock! Midnight! Tonight at midnight! There are only 2 minutes left!”

Do Ye-jun just blurted it out. Then, he twisted and turned his body to escape from Cheon Sa-hyun, who was pinning him down.

The current time was 11:59.

Due to Do Ye-jun’s flailing, the blanket he was lying under began to slide.

And then…

Thump!

Do Ye-jun fell off the bed. Fortunately, he fell with the blanket, but because he hit head-first, it made a loud noise.

“Are you okay?”

Startled, Cheon Sa-hyun rushed to the side of the bed.

Honestly, it was just a loud noise; it didn’t hurt at all. But the embarrassment was greater than the pain. Do Ye-jun squeezed his eyes shut.

He had returned to his original plan.

‘Pretend to be asleep.’

That’s right. With impeccable timing, Do Ye-jun dove straight into pretending to sleep.

The current time was 12:00. Exactly. Midnight.

“…Hyung?”

Cheon Sa-hyun grabbed Do Ye-jun’s shoulder and shook him. Do Ye-jun desperately played dead, even holding his breath.

“Haa…”

Cheon Sa-hyun let out a deep sigh.

“I get it, so just wake up now.”

His voice had returned to its usual monotonous and plain tone.

“Ye-jun Hyung.”

“…….”

“Do Ye-jun.”

But Do Ye-jun had missed the timing to wake up.

“Do Ye-jun, wake up.”

Only after Cheon Sa-hyun’s voice began to gain strength did Do Ye-jun slowly open his eyes.

“Are you really going to be like this?”

Cheon Sa-hyun spoke in an irritable voice, and Do Ye-jun could only bite his innocent tongue.

Cheon Sa-hyun seems really angry.

Facing those cold eyes, his knees began to tremble.

He felt like he had crossed a line.

Emotion had vanished from Cheon Sa-hyun’s gaze. It was as if he were looking at a stranger. Stillness.

The sense of dread and fear reached its peak.

Scenes he had read in the novel flashed through his [unauthorized copy]mind. [stolen content]Descriptions of how atrocious Read on Read BL Novelsand cruel Cheon Sa-hyun could be came flooding back.

Could it be that in trying to protect his chastity, he had reached a point where he might lose his life?

Had he dug his own grave deeper while trying to climb out of it?

“Do Ye-jun.”

Snapping back to his senses at a voice that sounded like the call of a Grim Reaper, Do Ye-jun shouted, thinking ‘screw it.’

“W-who are you?”

Do Ye-jun learned for the first time that humans cannot think rationally when pushed to an extreme.

It was the worst choice.

However, it was enough to bring emotion back into Cheon Sa-hyun’s eyes.

Perhaps it wasn’t the absolute worst.

…Maybe the second worst?

No matter how scary Cheon Sa-hyun was, surely he wouldn’t bury someone who had lost their memory in the mountains…

“What?”

The emotion filling Cheon Sa-hyun’s face was ‘absurdity.’ Cheon Sa-hyun furrowed his brows as if he had heard something ridiculous.

“What did you just say?”

In this situation, the only thing Do Ye-jun could do was push forward.

Since the words were already out, he decided that he would return to his original world and pretend that Do Ye-jun had lost his memory.

“Who… who are you…?”

Cheon Sa-hyun let out a deep breath and swept his hair back. A murderous intent could be felt in his eyes. Do Ye-jun shrank back, pretending to be scared.

No, actually, he was genuinely terrified, so he didn’t even need to pretend.

Do Ye-jun was truly ‘shaking in his boots.’

Cheon Sa-hyun let out a hollow laugh of disbelief and looked at Do Ye-jun. Then, as if finding it absurd, he began to chuckle.

“This one is actually kind of interesting.”

“…….”

Did it not work…?

Well, there was no way this would actually work…

Just as Do Ye-jun was about to open his mouth.

“Get back up and lie down.”

At Cheon Sa-hyun’s words, Do Ye-jun hesitated and stepped back. Huu. Cheon Sa-hyun exhaled irritably.

“I’ll just let you sleep, so get up here.”

At that, Do Ye-jun hesitantly stood up. He continued to Read on Read BL Novelsunauthorized copygauge Cheon Sa-hyun’s reaction while gathering the blanket.

As he crawled back onto the bed, Cheon Sa-hyun took the blanket from him. Perhaps finding it funny that Do Ye-jun was following his orders even in this state, his hardened expression had softened.

Though it was invisible to Do Ye-jun, whose back was turned.

Cheon Sa-hyun even turned off the lights. Once the mood lamp was off, the room became pitch black in an instant.

At that, Do Ye-jun became extremely tense.

“You asked who I am, yet you’re perfectly fine lying next to a stranger?”

Do Ye-jun flinched at Cheon Sa-hyun’s voice echoing in the darkness.

“Forget it. Just lie down.”

As soon as Do Ye-jun lay down, Cheon Sa-hyun covered him with the blanket. Do Ye-jun couldn’t even move, freezing like a mummy with his hands politely folded over his chest.

“Leaving right at 12 o’clock… you’re quite the Cinderella.”

Cheon Sa-hyun muttered in a low voice. Having nothing to say, Do Ye-jun kept his mouth shut.

Then, Cheon Sa-hyun spoke as if sighing.

“Good night.”

Tick, tick.

Listening to the sound of the clock’s second hand, Do Ye-jun’s worries deepened. Beside him, the sound of calm breathing could be heard softly.

Cheon Sa-hyun seemed to be asleep.

Seriously, he said he had insomnia, so when did he get cured? Grumbling inwardly, Do Ye-jun breathed shallowly so as not to wake him.

He couldn’t keep getting away with things this way forever.

By the time dawn broke and a blue light slowly filled the dark sky, Do Ye-jun reached a conclusion.

He could no longer handle this.

He didn’t have the capacity for it. Do Ye-jun acknowledged his limits.

The shock of tonight was quite significant. If before he had merely felt a sense of threat, today he truly felt as if a blade were held to his throat.

He had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.

He realized it was impossible to win over Cheon Sa-hyun and return their relationship—which had somehow become this way—to its original state.

There was now only one way to distance himself from Cheon Sa-hyun.

Do Ye-jun stared blankly out the window.

At dawn, Cheon Sa-hyun opened his eyes a bit early. Waking up silently, he looked at the empty space in front of him.

He looked as if he hadn’t been sleeping until a moment ago, without a hint of drowsiness.

Cheon Sa-hyun sat up.

“Hyung.”

And he called for Do Ye-jun. Even after waiting for a long time, there was no answer.

Could he have actually left while he was asleep? Cheon Sa-hyun’s face crumpled.

He immediately got out of bed and began to wander through the house. No matter how much of a handful Do Ye-jun was, there was no way he would be hiding in a place like a closet, yet Cheon Sa-hyun searched every corner meticulously.

That was how hard it was for him to accept the fact that Do Ye-jun had left. No, he didn’t want to accept it.

This was related to Cheon Sa-hyun’s childhood trauma and the reason he suffered from insomnia.

Because when Cheon Sa-hyun was very young, barely able to count to 100, his biological mother had left him in the same manner.

Cheon Sa-hyun’s breathing became unstable and ragged. He stopped and breathed slowly to compose himself.

Then, he discovered a piece of paper on the dining table.

A brief message was written in a neat handwriting that resembled its owner.

[Sa-hyun, don’t look for me and live well. I’m sorry. Goodbye.]

Since he had called him Cinderella last night, it seemed stolen contenthe Read on Read BL Novelsreally believed he had become Cinderella. Cheon Sa-hyun let out a hollow laugh.

After pretending to have lost his memory with a lie that was obvious to see, he had now even run away.

Folding the paper and tucking it away, Cheon Sa-hyun calmly began preparing for work. Because he had searched the entire house, it was already past 8 o’clock.

In Cheon Sa-hyun’s eyes, Do Ye-jun was timid. To an excessive degree.

He hated unfamiliar things and was fundamentally very wary of people.

He was different from Cheon Sa-hyun, who simply disliked people. Do Ye-jun was afraid of people.

Perhaps that was why he still seemed to be afraid of him.

That sometimes helped when taming the troublesome Do Ye-jun, but at other times, it was a hindrance.

Now was exactly that moment of hindrance.

Cheon Sa-hyun tapped the steering wheel.

He pondered how he could properly punish Do Ye-jun for leaving such a ridiculous note.

For Cheon Sa-hyun, the option of letting him go had never existed in the first place.