Chapter 131 – GOY 131

#131

“Did ​you ​make ​the ​samgyetang ​we ​had yesterday too?”

“Who ​else ​would ​have ​made ​it?”

Joo Seung-hyuk smiled as ​he ​stroked my hair.

Yes, ​come to think ​of ​it, ​it ​was ​obvious. ​Perhaps it would ​have ​been ​different when I ​was confined in the ​basement, but ​since returning ​from Achilles, ​there were ​only ​the ​two of us ​in this ​house.

Since I had stayed ​only in this room, ​Joo Seung-hyuk was the ​only person ​who ​could have cooked. However, because every ​dish was so delicious ​and ​high-quality, ​it ​hadn’t ​occurred to me ​that Joo ​Seung-hyuk ​was the one ​making ​them.

Furthermore, the Joo Seung-hyuk from ​the original ​story ​was not the ​kind ​of ​person ​to ​do things ​like ​cook. That ​was why I couldn’t even imagine him ​in the kitchen.

The ​current Joo Seung-hyuk ​is a completely different ​person from ​the original….

That fact ​felt ​real all over ​again.

“Thanks. It was ​so delicious ​I ​thought a ​professional ​chef made ​it.”

I ​squeezed Joo ​Seung-hyuk’s ​hand ​and gave him ​a ​slightly Read on Read BL Novelsbelated ​thank ​you. ​At ​that, his ears turned bright [unauthorized copy]red. He seemed embarrassed by the praise.

“It was nothing. They’re just basic dishes. I should make you something even tastier….”

“Basic?! It’s the best food I’ve ever eaten in my life! Since when did you start cooking?”

“Since middle school. There were people doing foolish things, so I started making my own food.”

“Foolish things?”

What on earth did someone do to Joo Seung-hyuk’s food?

“It’s nothing. I just found that things others made didn’t suit my taste. Hyung, if you’re finished eating, do you want to shower?”

“Yeah.”

Joo Seung-hyuk naturally tried to undress me from my pajamas.

“No. I’ll do it myself from today.”

At this rate, I might finish another day without moving a single finger.

“There are a lot of buttons, so it’s hard to take off.”

Am I a child?

It was absurd, but Joo Seung-hyuk’s expression was serious.

“Classes start tomorrow. I should do it myself now.”

“I can just keep doing it for you.”

Joo Seung-hyuk’s eyes curved beautifully as he gave a beaming smile. He didn’t seem to find taking care of me tedious at all.

But I was troubled. I felt like I was going to forget how to unbutton clothes.

“Haha. Ah, I need to wash up. Don’t follow me today.”

“Will you be able to wash by yourself?”

His eyes were full of worry. This guy, does he really think I’m a child?

“Yeah. I’m fine now. I’ll wash by myself, so you can’t come in.”

“Okay….”

After emphasizing the point, I entered the bathroom. Joo Seung-hyuk looked dissatisfied, but he didn’t follow me in. He was surprisingly obedient to my words.

I unbuttoned my pajamas and took them off. As I turned on unauthorized copyunauthorized copythe shower, warm water enveloped my entire body. The marks left from the Rut had faded significantly now. It seemed Joo Seung-hyuk was concerned whenever he saw the bruises, so that was a relief.

Among several shampoos, I pressed the pump of my favorite product.

Come to think of it, I’m using Joo Seung-hyuk’s things as if they were mine. The bathroom, and everything else…. I used Joo Seung-hyuk’s card, too.

Before I knew it, the boundary between Joo Seung-hyuk and me was gradually collapsing.

The things I had feared since becoming entangled with him had become reality, but surprisingly, it felt like nothing. Rather, I felt a cozy peace in his arms.

After finishing my shower and stepping out, I found my pajamas lying on the bed.

‘Where did Joo Seung-hyuk go?’

First, I changed into the light blue pajamas he had left and went out to the living room. However, Joo Seung-hyuk was nowhere to be seen.

‘Did he go out?’

Because the house was so large, I couldn’t tell if he was in another room or if he had left the house.

Just as I was about to call him, the front door opened and Joo Seung-hyuk walked inside.

“Did you go out?”

“Yes. The verification for the ring is finished.”

“Ring?”

He opened the wooden box he was holding. Inside the box was the ring we had obtained from the Linked Gate.

He said he had sent it to a facility to check the unique ability of the treasure, and it seemed the verification was completed today.

“Did you confirm the ability?”

“Yes. It has a storage ability.”

“Then it’s the same as this ring.”

I pointed to the ring on my ring finger. Since it was a ring from the Linked Gate, the abilities seemed to match.

“It’s similar, but slightly different. This one is specialized for storing living beings rather than objects.”

“Living beings?”

“Yes. Monsters, familiars, and even humans.”

…To think a human could be trapped in a ring. What a specialized skill for an obsessive yandere.

If I were to be imprisoned again, it might not be in a visit our sitebasement or on [unauthorized copy]a deserted island, but inside that ring.

“It really looks like a couple’s ring, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah….”

As treasures from the Linked Gate, they formed a pair in both shape and performance.

“Shall we make this our couple’s ring?”

“Huh?”

“What do you think?”

His eyes stared straight into mine.

Joo Seung-hyuk knows that I don’t sincerely like him. And now, he was giving me a choice. He was asking if I had any intention of becoming his real partner.

“…The second semester.”

The words escaped my lips impulsively.

“The second semester?”

“If your heart hasn’t changed even when the second semester comes….”

Tomorrow is the start of the second semester. It is also the period when the story of <The Swamp of the Guide> begins in earnest.

“Do you still think my heart will change?”

He gripped my hand firmly. As if to say he would never be the one to let go of this hand first.

“…I’m scared.”

“What are you scared of?”

Actually, I wasn’t worried about the original story anymore.

Too many things had already changed. Joo Seung-hyuk had been obsessed with me for seven years. Of course, I was imprisoned as soon as the vacation started, just like in the original, but it was different from the scenes in the novel.

He didn’t try to force my body or make me submit.

On the contrary, he granted everything I wanted.

I was no longer afraid of the Original Plot Constraint. We had changed the future where Do Hyuk-jin was murdered. Other things could be changed if we worked at it.

I didn’t think Joo Seung-hyuk would suddenly try to kill me or fall for Kim Joon just because the second semester started.

And yet, I was afraid.

“If your heart changes, I’ll just be thrown away.”

In our relationship, Joo Seung-hyuk is absolutely the one in power.

“You can hold onto me, but I can’t hold onto you.”

If Joo Seung-hyuk left, all I could do was watch his retreating back.

I was afraid of that.

I wasn’t scared because I couldn’t escape Joo Seung-hyuk’s embrace; I was afraid of being left alone when he abandoned me.

Yes, that was what I was scared of.

Only after speaking the words could I realize my true feelings.

Ever since I spent the night with Joo Seung-hyuk, I had always been afraid of him. However, I never even thought about leaving him.

But when I saw a movie where an Alpha abandoned a Beta, an inexplicable feeling of unpleasantness and anxiety surged, and as soon as I heard that Joo Seung-hyuk was having an arranged marriage, I decided to run away from him.

It was the same when I was on the island. The moment I saw the fairy tale book, I was overwhelmed by the fear that Joo Seung-hyuk might leave me, and I decided to depart.

I was afraid of Joo Seung-hyuk, and I trembled in fear that he might kill me. But more than anything, the fact that Joo unauthorized copySeung-hyuk could abandon me—and that I would be powerless if visit our sitestolen contentsuch a situation arose—was what I feared most.

Because I was afraid of being abandoned and left alone, I tried to leave first.

“There is no way I will ever leave you, Hyung.”

“Everyone says that when they first start dating. Then they change.”

I hated even feeling a slight bit of anxiety.

‘What if Joo Seung-hyuk’s heart changes? What if he leaves me? If by some chance the Original Plot Constraint takes effect and he falls in love with someone else, could I endure it?’

I didn’t want to be plagued by these thoughts every day. I didn’t want to tremble in fear while thinking about a possible possibility.

If Joo Seung-hyuk’s heart didn’t change even in the second semester, I wanted to accept his feelings after perfectly confirming that something like the Original Plot Constraint didn’t exist.

However, to Joo Seung-hyuk, asking him to wait until the second semester would likely feel absurd. So, I thought it would be natural for him to get angry. But instead of exploding in rage, Joo Seung-hyuk quietly clasped both of my hands.

“I thought I showed you how much I want you, but I guess it still wasn’t enough.”

“…….”

“Then I’ll work hard and wait. Until you can trust me, Hyung.”

Joo Seung-hyuk handed over the box containing the ring.

“Take it.”

“But the couple’s ring is after the second semester….”

“Just keep it, Hyung.”

He pressed the box firmly into my hand.

“Keep it, and when you develop trust in me, give it to me then.”

“…Okay. I will.”

I nodded, clutching the box tightly.

Chapter 9

The second semester starts today.

In the end, I decided to stay at Joo Seung-hyuk’s house instead of the dormitory.

It wasn’t that he forced me. It was just that while spending the days before the start of classes in a sort of recuperation, I missed the timing to say I was going back to the dorm. Moreover, to be honest, I didn’t really want to go back to the dormitory. I liked things just as they were.

I hoped the time spent with Joo Seung-hyuk would continue.

“Seung-hyuk-ah, this is my timetable.”

“Yes.”

On the day of course registration, I was knocked out from the aftereffects of the Rut Cycle. I was in no state to wake up early in the morning and click frantically. However, Joo Seung-hyuk offered to handle the registration for me, so I told him the subjects I wanted and left it to him. I thought it would be fine since the registration dates for the Guide Department and the Esper Department were different.

But….

“And this is your timetable.”

“Yes.”

I looked back and forth between Joo Seung-hyuk’s timetable and mine. The subjects were different, but looking at the class times, they were almost identical, like twins.

Since I am Joo Seung-hyuk’s assigned Guide, the practical classes were bound to overlap, but how could the theory class times be this identical?

The first lecture, the last lecture, and even the break times almost perfectly overlapped….

After planning my timetable, he had clearly slotted his own lectures to match mine.

This damn obsessive yandere….