By Zephyria Perhaps because he had been living in the mansion for quite some time, Eddie was greeted by a room that felt somewhat familiar.
When he had first opened his eyes, he had rushed out immediately with the single thought of seeing Ketron, without even looking around the room. But now that he was back, the messy bedding had all been neatly arranged.
The traces of someone sick having been lying there were gone. It was probably Gerold or Sebastian.
Eddie scratched the back of his head, still feeling strangely awkward about being waited on.
The room that Eddie and Ketron shared in the mansion had a separate tea table, but…
“Oh.”
Ketron wrapped his arms around Eddie’s waist and lay down on the bed. Eddie, naturally pinned beneath Ketron, watched as Ketron buried his face in his chest and closed his eyes. He stroked Ketron’s hair without feeling awkward.
The fine strands of hair slipped through his fingers.
Eddie liked moments like this. Moments when they felt each other’s presence without saying a word.
He liked the feeling of being held tightly by Ketron’s large, solid body, but he also liked being held gently like this.
When had they become so close?
It felt a little late to be thinking that, considering they had already shared a bed and everything, but oh well. When they first met, neither of them could have imagined things would turn out this way.
Back then, Ketron was just an unhappy protagonist tormented by the desire to destroy the world, and Eddie was just an extra.
The truth was a little different, but at least that’s how it was back then. He couldn’t have imagined it would turn out like this.
Come to think of it, he couldn’t even call him ‘baby’ anymore…
Having fully realized the power of that baby, Eddie swallowed a groan, feeling like he could no longer call Ketron ‘my baby.’
After spending some time stroking Ketron’s hair as he buried his face in his chest, Eddie carefully opened his mouth after a long while.
“Ket, are you ready to hear the story?”
In truth, it was a grand story if you considered it grand, and not so grand if you didn’t, so he wondered if this much preparation was really necessary. After all, it was just a personal story.
But it was a story about this world, so he couldn’t not tell it.
Ketron nodded.
Eddie took a moment to gather his breath. He had pondered for quite a while about where to start, but in the end, there was only one thing he had to do first.
The story of Lee Jeong-hoon.
“Ket, what would you think if my name wasn’t Eddie?”
Eddie opened the prologue to the story with solemnity. Ketron paused briefly before replying.
“Pakirius, you mean.”
“Ah, no, not that one.”
Right, he had that name too… Eddie, looking disgusted at the name that still felt like someone else’s, or rather, a name he wished was someone else’s, took a deep breath and began.
“It’s going to be a long story.”
The story of Lee Jeong-hoon.
Lee Jeong-hoon.
Born into a harmonious middle-class family, he was an ordinary person with a tall height, handsome face, and a sociable personality.
He was a dutiful son to his parents, dated moderately, and had liked drawing and creating characters since he was young, so he majored in design at university. A normal person like that.
He graduated from a good university with a picture-perfect route and got a job at a large company, which was great, but the problem was that damn company he first joined.
Lee Jeong-hoon lasted exactly one year.
A terrible mentor, a terrible team leader, terrible overtime work.
To put it briefly, that was the process.
After experiencing nearly a year of the company’s worst aspects in one place, he quit and saw a series of red flags on the health checkup results that arrived on the day he resigned, and ended up being hospitalized for several days.
After being discharged and becoming unemployed, Lee Jeong-hoon thought one day.
He couldn’t do company life.
He had worked at a large company, received severance pay, and wasn’t exactly broke, but he figured he would need a lump sum to start his own business or something, so he applied for a part-time job at a convenience store near his house.
That’s when he realized that he was much better suited to the service industry than he thought, and he ended up opening his own convenience store.
Of course, his parents were against it at first, saying, “You’ve learned so much, why a convenience store? You should open a cafe instead.”
But his Mother took his side, saying, “Why are you pouring cold water on your son’s work when he’s finally found something he’s good at, after ruining his health and being hospitalized because of a bad company?” Thanks to her, his convenience store was able to open without a hitch.
He also started living alone in an apartment near the store.
Location is everything for a convenience store. Jeong-hoon’s convenience store had a decent location, and the handsome Lee Jeong-hoon was likable to everyone.
No one disliked the kind young owner, so the neighborhood business was quite successful.
Except for one night shift worker and weekend part-timers, Jeong-hoon was at the convenience store almost all day on weekdays, so he would study design to pass the time or read web novels when he was bored.
Studying design was something he thought he could use someday since he had learned it, and reading web novels was just enjoyable.
‘The Hero Doesn’t Hide His Power Too Much?’
He had a broad taste and enjoyed reading almost anything, and that’s how he came across that novel, which was nearing its completion.
Of course, he had no idea what would happen after reading the ending of that novel.
Eddie briefly told the story of Lee Jeong-hoon. From being born in an obstetrics and gynecology clinic near his house, to elementary school, middle school, high school, university, the story of his company and friends that Ketron could understand, the story of when he went to the army, and how he had a good relationship with his older brother.
And how it ended.
“…I opened my eyes and saw a man I’d never seen before in the mirror.”
The story had flowed to the time when he had opened his eyes as Eddie in the Reneva Empire.
“I tried to adapt somehow. I had a convenience store, and I figured if I just did well, there was no way I could fail. Looking back, I think Gerold must have found it really strange. The Emperor’s brother trying so hard to make money.”
At the time, he had really clicked his tongue, wondering what the original Eddie had been thinking, running things like this. He was the one who didn’t know anything, but he didn’t know it back then.
“When I heard the parade was right around the corner, I thought, ‘Oh. Then the protagonist must be somewhere in this empire, and I have to stop the darkening, right?’”
Ketron had been listening to Eddie’s story without saying anything, even when his own story came up. He was so quiet that Eddie wondered if he had fallen asleep, but he was blinking his eyes quietly. With an expression that was impossible to read.
“I’m not someone with great power, but I thought I should at least meet the protagonist. So I went outside the inn, and…”
He met him as soon as he went out. The protagonist.
He would later learn that it was also part of the ‘story’s’ arrangement, but at the time, he thought, ‘What a coincidence!’
He brought him, suffering from injuries and the pain of betrayal, into the inn, and then…
Eddie looked at Ketron. The moment he saw the black eyes looking up at him, he couldn’t help but feel affection, and he pulled that face closer and kissed his handsome lips.
Before he knew it, it had turned out like this.
“You know the rest of the story.”
Ketron remained silent. His breath, as he quietly breathed, tickled the tip of Eddie’s nose.
“Are you disappointed?”
Eddie asked carefully. Ketron, who had been quietly looking at Eddie, looked puzzled.
“Me, you mean?”
“…Yeah. I knew who you were when I talked to you.”
Ah. Ketron seemed to realize what Eddie was worried about.
He was worried that reaching out with kindness to someone he didn’t know, but knowing that he was the protagonist, might be seen as deception.
And that was a completely unnecessary worry. Ketron raised the corners of his lips.
“Eddie would have talked to me even if I wasn’t me.”
Huh?
Eddie’s eyes widened at the unexpected words.
“Really?”
“He wouldn’t have left me alone after seeing that I was hurt, even if it wasn’t me.”
Eddie thought it was ambiguous, but Ketron was certain. That Eddie was that kind of person.
“He would have told someone who was hurt to stay, even if it wasn’t me.”
Because you’re that kind of person.
However, even as he said that, Ketron, who was displeased with Eddie being too kind, seemed even more dissatisfied.
“But it just happened to be me.”
Of course, it was true that Ketron had collapsed in front of Eddie’s Inn according to the story’s arrangement, but Eddie would have taken that person in, no matter who it was.
Eddie, who didn’t even know if he was that kind and nice, scratched his cheek with an awkward expression.
“Aren’t you surprised? That I’m not from here? And that this place was originally in a novel?”
“It would be a lie to say I’m not surprised, but.”
Ketron paused for a moment, as if contemplating how to express it here, but soon came to a conclusion.
“It’s not that important to me.”
“How is that not important?”
“What’s important to me.”
Ketron slowly raised his body. The expression on his face that was visible in Eddie’s view seemed quite gloomy, and then he slowly put his hand inside Eddie’s clothes.
“Is that you were stabbed there too.”
“Ah.”
Ketron, who had put his hand under his clothes, stroked the part where Eddie had been stabbed. Ironically, the area where he had been stabbed was similar in both his past life and here. To a chilling degree.
“I’m fine now.”
Of course, that didn’t immediately improve Ketron’s expression.
“I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt.”
Eddie barely managed to hold back a laugh in this serious situation.
He has countless scars and wounds from being hurt by blades, yet he looks so upset about what happened to Eddie.
Of course, saying he was okay was a bit of a bluff for Eddie as well. Eddie probably wouldn’t be able to stand alone among strangers for the next few years. And the people around him wouldn’t let him either.
“It’s okay.”
But in front of Ketron, who looked like he had been stabbed instead of Eddie, those words just came out.
Ketron, who sighed softly, stroked Eddie’s chest more gently. Eddie just let Ketron touch his chest however he wanted.
And after a little while, that touch gradually became a little suggestive.
Eddie realized something was wrong when his top was taken off very naturally.