By Zephyria 
He couldn’t understand why the image of himself, left alone and forlorn, was clearer than the moment of their dramatic reunion. After sending his comrades away one by one, his aimless wandering through the vast amusement park in search of Jun-seok seemed like the pathetic end of a fool who couldn’t face reality.
But wasn’t he already prepared? This confusion was just a delayed side effect of the fear he had been trying to ignore. Giving up his only family was out of the question, so there was no choice.
To soothe the endless surge of anxiety, Ha-jin picked up several more stones. Another wish was placed on the lowest stone tower. And then the next, and the next. Each time a round stone was placed on the tower, the faces of those he cherished flashed through his mind.
His younger brother Jun-seok, smiling with a grimace, Mi-so, vigorously patting him on the back, Byeol, weeping sadly, Jeffrey, teasing him mischievously. And Jeong Tae-geon….
A look of dismay crossed Ha-jin’s face as he stared blankly at the last remaining stone.
“…What am I going to do…”
The careful touch of his hand, applying ointment to his wounded body, swirled around in his head. In his memory, Jeong Tae-geon was tenderly caressing his scars with a very affectionate expression.
The stone clutched in his fist grew warm. After holding it and releasing it for a while, Ha-jin hesitantly reached out to the stone tower. At the moment the last wish was placed, he heard several footsteps approaching.
He turned around at the sound of familiar, leisurely footsteps and hoof-like steps. As expected, familiar silhouettes appeared in the darkness. It was Eden and Pie.
“Jeong Tae-geon?”
Ha-jin rose from his crouched position, watching Eden walk straight toward him.
“Why are you here… How did you get here?”
“That’s what I should be asking.”
Blue moonlight fell like a spotlight on Eden’s face as he approached. Ha-jin reflexively stroked Pie’s back as he jumped up and clung to his torso.
“What do you think you’re doing, disappearing without a word?”
Despite the gruff tone, Eden’s face was etched with a worry he didn’t usually show.
Ha-jin quickly rubbed his chest, which suddenly felt tight, and gave an awkward smile.
“Ah, I just thought I’d take a quick walk. The temple is safe, and, um… I was talking to Mi-so and didn’t even think to tell you. And I thought you were asleep.”
As he stammered excuses, Pie stuck out his tongue and licked Ha-jin’s cheek wetly. Ha-jin wrinkled his nose at the fishy smell of saliva and stroked Pie’s forehead soothingly. Eden, who had been silently watching, let out a soft sigh.
“You have no sense of danger.”
He didn’t dislike this ticklish feeling in an unexpected place. Ha-jin cleared his throat and turned his head away, as if to escape the persistent gaze.
“Let’s go. It’s late, you should get some sleep.”
“What was your wish?”
“Pardon?”
Eden gestured with his eyes to the stone tower containing Ha-jin’s last wish. Among the stones stacked in layers of varying heights, his gaze rested precisely on the one Ha-jin had touched. Ha-jin shrugged.
“I just wished for everyone to survive safely.”
“I doubt you only wished for one thing.”
Should he open a fortune-telling shop or something? Ha-jin clicked his tongue at Eden’s easy and accurate assessment of him.
“How did you know?”
“You looked so gloomy. I figured one wish wouldn’t be enough.”
Eden knelt down on one knee and casually picked up some stones from the ground. Clack, clatter…. The sound of several stones colliding in his large hand was cheerful.
“Pie, choose.”
He held out his hands to Pie, stones clenched in both fists as if playing a shell game. Pie wagged his tail and bumped his snout against his left hand.
“Good boy.”
Eden boldly discarded the stones in his right hand and stood up. He placed one stone on top of the highest stone tower, and then another on the tower next to it. Ha-jin, who had been silently watching him make two wishes, couldn’t contain his curiosity and asked.
“What did you wish for?”
“Like you, Do Ha-jin, I wished for my people to survive safely.”
“What about the other one?”
Swaaa— The salty smell of ozone, carried on the warm night breeze, tickled his nose. The air suddenly felt damp, and Ha-jin looked up. The clouds obscuring the moon were swollen as if they would burst into rain at any moment.
“I wished that Do Ha-jin wouldn’t reject my proposal.”
He looked at the sky with a worried expression, then slowly turned his gaze to Eden.
“Proposal?”
Without answering, Eden stared down at Ha-jin for a long moment before reaching out and straightening the shoulder line of Ha-jin’s short-sleeved shirt. He casually, yet tenderly, adjusted his disheveled clothes and asked.
“More importantly, are you alright?”
Not knowing what he was worried about, he stared blankly back at him until the deep voice landed in his ear again.
“Yun Mi-so left so suddenly. And the situation at the amusement park doesn’t sound good either.”
Like a skilled doctor who could find hidden pressure points with his eyes closed, he accurately pinpointed the sore spots, and Ha-jin let out a long sigh.
“Well… it can’t be helped.”
He felt like he had given a similar answer to Mi-so’s question about whether he was okay. He thought to himself with self-mockery, staring meaninglessly at the stones under his feet. Eden’s gaze, unreadable, landed heavily on the back of his neck.
Should he go back to his room now? Ha-jin pondered, but feeling a strange sense of reluctance, he changed the subject.
“By the way, how did you know I was here? The temple is quite large, it must have been hard to find me.”
“I still have your handkerchief.”
Ha-jin tilted his head, puzzled by the cryptic words. Feeling Pie’s soft tail brush against his shin, he quietly tried to guess the meaning, and then he let out a small exclamation. Pie, following his scent, must have led Eden here.
Ha-jin, standing blankly with a look of realization, suddenly stiffened as he felt warmth on the back of his neck. Eden was covering his neck with a dry handkerchief. The smell of sun-dried cotton brushed his nose.
Even as he looked at him with bewildered eyes, as if to say, what are you doing in the middle of the night, he simply tied the ends of the handkerchief tightly.
“What are you doing all of a sudden?”
“Covering you up.”
“I know, but why so suddenly in the middle of the night…”
Eden, who was adjusting the knot so it wouldn’t choke him, suddenly lowered his voice.
“Because I don’t like strangers staring at your neck.”
A faint annoyance flickered in his eyes as he smoothed out the ends of the dried handkerchief.
“It made me feel worse than I expected.”
Ha-jin couldn’t hide his bewilderment at his unexpected answer, which resembled jealousy. As he gaped, speechless, the confirmation came.
“So next time, I’m going to leave a mark where only I can see it.”
There was no hint of a smile on the man’s face as he confidently promised the next time. The atmosphere was quite different from before, when he had been joking around with a consistently light attitude. Ha-jin took a tense breath, as if he would suffocate in the damp air.
Clang— The clear sound of a wind chime echoed from the hermitage built on the edge of a cliff. Pie’s ears perked up at the sound. The handkerchief tied around his neck fluttered in the increasingly strong night breeze.
They both sensed it at the same time. An unknown attraction to each other. The unspoken grace period they had been given to explore that feeling was coming to an end.
A damp wind kept blowing from somewhere. It was time to make a decision.
“Jeong Tae-geon.”
Ha-jin impulsively called his name. Eden, who had been gazing into the deep darkness, turned his head back to Ha-jin.
“Do you like me?”
His face, bathed in the pale blue moonlight, was pale, but his gaze was softer than ever. A gentle smile bloomed on Eden’s face.
“Are you just realizing that now?”
Ha-jin let out a small sigh at the voice that showed no hesitation.
The only thing he had learned while agonizing over his feelings for Eden was that emotions were purely in the realm of instinct. So, Ha-jin knew instinctively. That he had already fallen helplessly for Jeong Tae-geon.
“I knew? I’m a magician.”
“Can magicians read people’s minds too?”
“Yes, so be careful.”
The reality before him was not easy enough to welcome this excitement, but even so, he couldn’t stop his gaze from turning to him.
Mi-so’s words to do his best while they were together had been a great comfort, enough to make him want to take him greedily, using those words as a guide….
As they stared intently at each other, they twitched the muscles around their mouths at the same time, as if mimicking each other’s expressions. A faint smile crossed Eden’s face, and a ticklish smile bloomed on Ha-jin’s face as well. Clang— Once again, the sound of the bell breaking itself in the wind rang out.