By Zephyria 
“Come in, Hyung.”
A soft voice broke the silence. With a click of the door lock releasing, Kwon Mi-eon pulled the handle and opened the door.
The place they were at was none other than…
‘This is unbelievable. I actually came to Kwon Mi-eon’s house.’
Mo Yeon-hu stood there awkwardly, his face pale, glancing around tentatively. Kwon Mi-eon called out to him.
“Hyung?”
“Ah, yeah.”
Coming back to his senses, he finally stepped inside. With every step he took, regret surged back like a tide.
‘I should have bolted somehow.’
Recalling last night, Mo Yeon-hu squeezed his eyes shut.
But what could he do? He had been in a position where he would be socially buried if he refused to play the game, so he had no choice. Only then did Kwon Mi-eon seem satisfied and step back. However, the flow of the conversation afterward was the problem.
‘Then where should we play the game?’
‘Can’t we just do it at our own houses?’
‘What? How could you say that? If I leave you alone like that, you’ll definitely go to some other woman’s house…’
‘Huh? What?’
‘…No. I’m just feeling lonely, so I want to play together.’
‘What on earth is there to be lonely about while playing a game…’
‘I’m so lonely that I feel like I might accidentally contact Kang Mi-yeong.’
‘Right. You get lonely when you play alone. Let’s stay close and do it.’
Due to that damn blackmail, Mo Yeon-hu ended up in a position where he had to choose the location himself. He had considered inviting him to his own place, but the fact that he only had one computer held him back.
As if waiting for that moment, Kwon Mi-eon appealed by saying he had two computers with identical specs at his house. And was that all?
‘Since your phone is broken, I’ll come pick you up.’
‘I’m fine taking a taxi.’
‘What if we miss each other?’
‘It’s your house, how could we miss each other?’
‘Just a feeling. I feel like you might be packing your bags right now?’
Is this bastard a shaman?
Having ghost-like intuition that Mo Yeon-hu was secretly plotting an escape, Kwon Mi-eon had led him out of the house since early morning. Consequently, that was how he had ended up walking side-by-side into the other man’s home.
Since it had already happened, there was no one to blame, but Mo Yeon-hu sighed at every moment of this absurd, fluid sequence of events.
“Here.”
Instead of sighing, Mo Yeon-hu held out the shopping bag he was carrying with a sullen face. Contrary to his pouty expression, the bag contained a carefully wrapped set of towels and tissues.
“Is this for me?”
“Then who else would I give this to?”
The resentment he had felt since arriving leaked into his tone. Even he found it absurd that he had prepared a gift despite being practically kidnapped, but Mo Yeon-hu always brought a gift when visiting someone’s home.
‘It’s annoying, but I can’t go empty-handed.’
Despite grumbling, he had woken up early to visit a nearby 24-hour market. But as soon as he returned, he was snatched up by Kwon Mi-eon, who had arrived at the crack of dawn, and brought here. Because he hadn’t slept properly, Mo Yeon-hu’s face was full of fatigue; he instinctively looked up and paused.
‘Why is he staring so intently?’
Kwon Mi-eon couldn’t take his eyes off the shopping bag. After staring for a while, he suddenly beamed a wide smile, leaving Mo Yeon-hu frozen.
“Thank you. This is the first time I’ve ever received a housewarming gift.”
Kwon Mi-eon asked excitedly, “Can I open it?” and when Mo Yeon-hu nodded reflexively, he immediately began peering into the bag.
“Tissues are given so that things go smoothly, right? What’s this? Towels?”
Mo Yeon-hu was actually the one flustered by the sight of him looking genuinely happy, like a child receiving a Christmas present.
“There’s a little bear drawn on it, Hyung? Can I use this right away?”
Mo Yeon-hu watched in speechless silence as the man crouched his large frame, almost as if trying to fit into the shopping bag, examining the towels from every angle. Was this something to be that happy about?
“…Of course you have to wash the towels once before using them. Are you an idiot?”
Since the other person was so happy, he didn’t feel bad. In fact, he felt a bit uplifted. However, not wanting to show it, the sharp words came out naturally.
“That makes sense. I just wanted to use it quickly. I wonder how long it’ll take to dry.”
Kwon Mi-eon didn’t seem to mind. He held the towel and smiled with a bright, puppy-like face, and only then did it sink in that he was two years younger than him.
‘…Two years?’
Mo Yeon-hu blinked. But… how did I know Kwon Mi-eon was two years younger than me?
Since the first time they met, Kwon Mi-eon had called him ‘Hyung’ as if they were old acquaintances, so he had naturally assumed he was younger, but…
‘Did we talk about it at the cafe?’
Just as Mo Yeon-hu tilted his head, trying to recall when he had heard that, a voice interrupted.
“I’ll use them well.”
“It’s nothing much, so…”
At the sight of Kwon Mi-eon’s smiling face, Mo Yeon-hu pushed his thoughts aside.
Though he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the curve of those lips, Mo Yeon-hu forced himself to look away and finally took a proper look at the house.
However, in this large house, there wasn’t a trace of warmth. A refrigerator, a dining table, chairs. Only the bare minimum of furniture necessary for survival sat isolated.
‘Why is there nothing in the house?’
The living room, devoid of a sofa, a TV, or even a common potted plant, was filled only with a few pieces of exercise equipment.
Kwon Mi-eon naturally followed beside him and gave a brief introduction to the rooms.
“This is the bedroom; you can sleep here if you’re tired. Over there is the dressing room, and that’s the storage room.”
The other rooms were the same. The bedroom with the attached dressing room had nothing but one large bed, without any lighting or nightstands, and the other room was being used as storage, completely devoid of furniture.
“The space where we’ll play the game is here.”
The room he introduced was also incredibly empty. Two computers and two chairs—that was it.
“…Did you move in yesterday?”
“No, I’ve lived here for quite a while.”
“Then why is there nothing here?”
It was a stark contrast to Mo Yeon-hu’s home, where he had obsessively filled every empty space because he hated voids.
“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.”
Kwon Mi-eon’s house was empty, as if he were ready to leave at any moment.
‘I thought it would be more lavish.’
Well-decorated, flashy. Since he had an image closer to a party-goer than anyone else, Mo Yeon-hu thought the house would be similar to his own, if not more so, but it was the exact opposite.
“Sit here.”
At Kwon Mi-eon’s call, Mo Yeon-hu quickly shook off his distracting thoughts and sat in the chair. The two monitors placed side-by-side flickered on. In the center of the screen—which was as empty as the house—an icon caught his eye.
“Did you install Zombie Village?”
It was indeed Zombie Village.
“Yes. It would be a waste of time otherwise, right?”
Since Zombie Village had a large file size, Mo Yeon-hu thought it would take quite a while to download, but it seemed he had installed it in advance.
“By the way, you recognized the icon quickly. I moved it to the center just in case you wouldn’t recognize it.”
So that’s why it was right in the center instead of the top left…
“No… I mean, the name is written right there.”
While he felt that pretending not to know was a chore, he also felt wronged.
‘I mean, it’s not like it was placed in a spot where you couldn’t recognize it! It was right there in the center, so of course I’d think it was the game we agreed to play!’
As Mo Yeon-hu logged in, unconsciously pouting from the unfairness, Kwon Mi-eon watched him quietly and asked with a puzzled look.
“But you’ve already signed up for an account?”
Mo Yeon-hu paused at Kwon Mi-eon’s sharp question.
Zombie Village was notoriously difficult to sign up for, and since the system only allowed one account per phone number, he had gone through the trouble of creating an account under a family member’s name in advance.
‘Could he… be about to say something?’
Mo Yeon-hu glanced at him tentatively, but as he caught a glimpse of Kwon Mi-eon’s screen, he couldn’t help but blink and ask back.
“…You too?”
Mo Yeon-hu wasn’t the only one who had to pretend he was playing the game for the first time.
When Mo Yeon-hu questioned why Kwon Mi-eon had also obtained a new ID and already logged in, Kwon Mi-eon smiled shyly and explained softly, as if he had been waiting for the question.
“Ah, I was just so excited to play. I signed up while I was installing it on the gaming PC.”
“And you?”
“…Well, since I don’t have a phone, it takes a lot of time and is quite tedious to sign up using email verification. So I did it in advance too.”
“Right. Signing up for Zombie Village isn’t easy. But you seem to have known… very well… how tedious it is, Hyung?”
“How would I know since it’s my first time? I was just sooo excited to play with you that I signed up at home yesterday morning. Just like you.”
“Wow, I’m truly touched that you wanted to play with me so badly that you even signed up in advance.”
“Same here.”
It was obvious to anyone that they had both created new family accounts to avoid getting caught, yet the two of them continued to play dumb.
After exchanging a few more words without pause, their eyes met. Then, as if on cue, they both whipped their heads away, their lips twitching almost simultaneously.
‘Hah, so he thinks he’s being thorough, huh?’
There was no one being fooled, only people trying to fool each other.