Chapter 72 – ​The ​Price ​of ​Misjudgment

Yoon ​Ki-hyun ​blinked ​his ​dry ​eyes.

It was an unfamiliar ​bedroom. ​His vision was ​still hazy from ​sleep, ​but ​he ​could ​say ​with certainty that ​he ​had ​never seen this ​place before.

‘What happened yesterday?’

As ​fragmented memories ​of tumbling ​around with ​Jeong Si-jun ​began ​to ​surface, he finally ​felt the ​presence of a thick ​forearm entwining his body.

No ​wonder breathing felt a ​bit uncomfortable… ​Sure ​enough, Jeong Si-jun was hugging him ​tightly like a vine, ​staring ​intently ​into ​his ​face.

“Are you awake?”

As ​their eyes ​met, ​Jeong Si-jun whispered ​in ​a very affectionate voice. It ​was a ​tender ​tone uncharacteristic of ​him. ​Thanks ​to ​that, ​the acts ​and ​conversations he ​had shared with Jeong Si-jun before falling ​asleep began to ​return in sporadic ​flashes.

‘A Guide is supposed ​to do ​guiding, ah, then ​what ​are you doing? ​Stop licking other ​places and ​just ​stay still. ​Now ​is not ​the ​time to ​be ​complacent…’

‘Si-jun, ​slowly, just fuck ​me… ​Can’t you ​understand ​what ​I’m ​saying?’

At first, it was definitely guiding to prevent an outbreak. Read on Read BL NovelsHowever, once some stolen contenttime had passed and he felt the wavelength had stabilized to some extent…

‘We had sex. Honestly.’

It would have pricked Yoon Ki-hyun’s conscience to call that a substitute for guiding. At some point, he had even let go of the sense of urgency to guide and spent his time tossing and turning with Jeong Si-jun, breathless with pleasure.

This was something he had prepared for since signing the pledge. He knew that once he stepped beyond the isolation room, sex with Jeong Si-jun was inevitable, regardless of the process.

And Yoon Ki-hyun did not regret his choice. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he and Jeong Si-jun were quite compatible in bed.

“You remember this time, right?”

Jeong Si-jun asked, lightly rubbing the dazed face that hadn’t yet shaken off the lingering sleep.

He felt that if the number of nights only he remembered continued to increase, it would feel like shit.

Fortunately, Yoon Ki-hyun’s erratic mind remembered last night. The pouting gaze looking back at him proved it.

As Jeong Si-jun stroked the back of Yoon Ki-hyun’s head while the latter simply nodded, he asked again.

“How much do you remember?”

Yoon Ki-hyun frowned slightly as he recalled the memories.

“I remember you whining for me to call you Si-jun while I was busy as hell guiding you…”

“Anything else?”

“I remember almost everything about how the Team Leader was fucking me into the ground yesterday.”

“Not yesterday, until this dawn.”

“Fine, whenever it was.”

Whether it was last night or this dawn, that wasn’t the important part.

‘Why does my voice sound like this?’

His voice was completely hoarse from how much he had gasped yesterday. Disliking the way it cracked every time he spoke, he shut his mouth, and Jeong Si-jun buried his lips against Yoon Ki-hyun’s warm cheek.

“You remembered everything this time.”

Chu, chu. Kissing him while intentionally making noise, he murmured, unable to hide his delight. He must have thought that Yoon Ki-hyun might be disgusted and claim he couldn’t remember after waking up again.

If he had known it would be like this, maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned that unauthorized copyEND: unauthorized copy -->he had problems with his memory.

“Last time, it wasn’t because I didn’t want to remember…”

Jeong Si-jun, feeling that his embrace might be stifling as the other squirmed, tightened his hold and asked back.

“But why did you go back to formal speech? You were using informal speech so well until we slept. It makes me feel a distance between us.”

Yoon Ki-hyun had indeed spoken informally without hesitation until he fell asleep, claiming he was tired in the isolation room.

‘Do you think I’m like you?’

‘Ah, fuck… Please just stop. I have nothing left to come out.’

‘I said stop it already…’

Most of it was swearing, but Jeong Si-jun loved it whenever Yoon Ki-hyun spoke informally to him. The feeling of the distance closing with a person who had always built a wall specifically against him was addictive.

“Since it’s come to this, just keep speaking comfortably from now on. I loved it, seriously. Hearing Hyung say ‘Si-jun, Si-jun.’”

Jeong Si-jun chuckled and subtly buried his face near Yoon Ki-hyun’s collarbone. He expected to be pushed away and asked what he was doing, but surprisingly, Yoon Ki-hyun was compliant.

He likely lacked strength in his body since he had only just woken up. He had a vivid memory of him looking strangely [stolen content]visit our sitespan>drained after waking up last time as well.

Emboldened by Yoon Ki-hyun’s acquiescence, he took a deep breath of the scent of skin, and the familiar scent of body wash wafted through. It was the body wash he used.

‘Ah, fuck. This is so good.’

Jeong Si-jun grinned and hugged Yoon Ki-hyun gently, without hurting him.

“Why do you want to hear informal speech so badly?”

“Just because. Because I want us to be closer?”

“…Nothing changes just because you drop the formalities.”

“There’s such a thing as a feeling.”

Yoon Ki-hyun, with his body limp and lethargic, decided to give in to this trivial stubbornness.

In truth, speaking informally to Jeong Si-jun wasn’t difficult. The world wouldn’t end just because he dropped the formalities; he had simply refused because he was reluctant to get closer to Jeong Si-jun.

‘He must still be struggling, so arguing over something like this will only tire us both out.’

The reason he couldn’t be harsh to Jeong Si-jun was obvious. It hadn’t [visit our site]visit our site -->been long since the other had gone through something mentally taxing enough to lead to an outbreak.

Perhaps he was whining like this to fill the uncontrollable void left after losing someone precious. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand that feeling; naturally, his heart couldn’t help but soften.

“Fine. Whatever.”

“Then I’ll call you Hyung too.”

“Sure.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

Jeong Si-jun was smiling brightly. Even while looking at that radiant smile, Yoon Ki-hyun’s heart felt uneasy.

If he hadn’t seen him burying his head in his shoulder and crying at the funeral home, he would have just clicked his tongue at him for being a guy who lived without a care in the world.

‘…Maybe I shouldn’t have gone that day.’

Would something have been different if he had followed Jeong Si-jun’s request?

He questioned himself for a moment, but nothing would have changed significantly. Whether he had seen him grieving at the funeral or not, he would have gone to find him without hesitation upon hearing news that Jeong Si-jun was showing pre-outbreak symptoms.

“How does your body feel? I saw when I was washing you, why are you so thin?”

“I’ve always been the type who doesn’t put on weight easily. My body… hurts all over.”

“Is it because I did it too hard?”

Jeong Si-jun gently pulled Yoon Ki-hyun out of his embrace and lifted the blanket. Examining the body loosely clad in his own t-shirt, he shut his mouth tight at the sight of hickeys and bruises scattered across the white skin.

“There weren’t this many bruises when I washed you…”

“I bruise easily. Anyway, where are my clothes?”

“I dropped them off at the dry cleaners this morning. A few buttons were ripped off, so I had those repaired too. I did a good job, right?”

The face asking for praise after ripping off perfectly fine buttons and sending them for repair was quite brazen. However, since he lacked the energy to start an argument, he simply nodded.

Since he couldn’t stay huddled together forever, he pushed himself up, and his entire body throbbed. It was a natural result of being hammered into various positions on a bed too narrow for two people. He recalled being frantically fucked while gripping the mobile bed at the end…

‘Haa… Let’s not dwell on it.’

Yoon Ki-hyun had no intention of denying that the act with Jeong Si-jun yesterday was sex. However, he didn’t want to attach great meaning to it either.

He wanted to consider it as nothing more and nothing less than an unavoidable unauthorized copyEND: unauthorized copy -->happening that occurs during guiding, just as it had always been. That would be better for both of them.

“When will my clothes be done?”

“Um, hold on.”

Jeong Si-jun, checking his phone, frowned as if he had hit a snag. There was a message stating that the laundry was already finished and had arrived at the front door.

How could laundry dropped off in the morning be finished so quickly?

Checking the time belatedly, it was already well past evening. He had simply been staring at Yoon Ki-hyun’s sleeping face, and he hadn’t realized so much time had passed.

“By the way, what time is it now?”

“Seven.”

“Morning?”

“…Evening.”

That meant he had slept for a full day. No wonder his body felt strangely sluggish. Just as Yoon Ki-hyun clicked his tongue inwardly and tried to get out of bed…

Jeong Si-jun put down his phone and gently pulled Read on Read BL Novelsstyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[stolen content]Yoon Ki-hyun’s waist. Pulled effortlessly into his chest, Yoon Ki-hyun looked up.

“What now…”

Jeong Si-jun hugged Yoon Ki-hyun, who had become strangely compliant since waking up.

Normally, this was a time when he would have pushed him away and asked if he was crazy, but the warm body remained in his arms.

Whether he was acting this way because he wasn’t fully awake or for some other reason, he didn’t know. But he was delighted by the change in Yoon Ki-hyun.

“The dry cleaning is here, but eat something before you go. I’ll take you home.”

“…Is that necessary?”

His tone was chilly, but it didn’t feel like the distance of before.

That was probably because Yoon Ki-hyun was still held in his arms. He felt as close to Yoon Ki-hyun as the physical distance of their bodies pressed tightly together.

Why? Why was Yoon Ki-hyun still quietly held in his arms?

‘Did Hyung develop some feelings for me after sleeping together?’

He didn’t mind. Jeong Si-jun whispered, hugging the quietly held Yoon Ki-hyun a bit tighter.

“Yes, it’s necessary. Because I want to.”

At Jeong Si-jun’s ticklish voice, Yoon Ki-hyun flinched.

‘Is he crazy? Why does he keep whispering in my ear? It feels weird.’

Moreover, that expression…

Yoon Ki-hyun subtly averted his gaze. He didn’t yet have the confidence to face Jeong Si-jun’s face, which looked as if he might whisper words of love at any moment.