"It doesn't matter. Since it's already been 20 years, I probably forgot who is worried about me already."
After saying that, Hyeon Gyu-ha let In Yoo-shin down from the bike and patted him on the head.
“Let's continue with Master's other abilities that we haven't checked yet next time. Stop cluttering your head with useless thoughts and go upstairs to rest. You will feel refreshed after taking a deep breath.”
As always.
Hyeon Gyu-ha riding a bike, left after seeing the lights in the rooftop room turn on.
“Six-seyo.”
Back in the dark room, the rattle of the treadmill grew faster. He seemed to be in a good mood when he came home.
In Yoo-shin squatted in front of the cage without saying a word.
It's the same scenery he always sees when he returns home, but his legs sag, and he feels empty. He ate dinner deliciously, and he didn't have any cold symptoms, so why would he be like this?
In Yoo-shin knows why.
Because he had a good dinner.
'It's been a while since I ate with someone other than Seung-gi.'
In Yoo-shin, who lives and works alone in Seoul, where he has no hometown, has no known acquaintances whom he calls out for dinner. Park Seung-gi, the only one living together in Seoul, is a graduate student, so he is very busy.
Except for the occasional meeting with Park Seung-gi for dinner or the occasional occasion to attend a company dinner, he always ate dinner alone.
It was an unchanging daily life. He had never been dissatisfied with that daily life, and he had never felt regretful.………… or so he thought.
Hyeon Gyu-ha made him realize his loneliness with just one meal.
It broke the heart’s hard shell that had turned away and turned away from itself, even though it was deeply felt, and made it reveal loneliness. He stepped into him, who always stood one step behind, and made him see his loneliness due to his perquisites of being from an orphanage.
The consideration during the meal, the calmly chasing eyes, and the warm conversation all awakened his loneliness.
“He really lives in a different world from me.”
Didn't you realize that you didn't know Hyeon Gyu-ha at all today? He slowly recalled that their relationship was only forcibly attached using the means of taming.
“Six-seyo.”
When he opened the cage door and held out his palm, 6-se came down from the wheel and stood up slightly. He felt a sense of relief as he caressed the cuddly creature.
He even borrowed a magnifying glass from the owner's grandfather to check, but there was no tattoo of my name on the 6-year-old's body. Is Hyeon Gyu-ha special? If so, what is the reason? And…
How can I release Taming?
“Will you always stay by my side?”
“Squeak.”
As if comforting his heart, 6-se pricked the tip of his nose. In Yoo-shin smiled lightly and kissed the hamster.
He wanted to end his relationship with Hyeon Gyu-ha as soon as possible. Before sinking further into loneliness, before having false expectations.
In Yoo-shin, who suffered two dissolutions and one death.
The scariest thing is to have expectations from people.
*****
When the mana pattern was injected into the door lock, the lights in the room turned on as a set. However, the officetel, which is not a space for people to live in but is like a model house, is quiet and dreary. (PA: Officetel is basically a Studio Apartment designed to be a self-contained building, so its occupants can live and work in the same building, minimizing commute time.)
Hyeon Gyu-ha threw his riding jacket on the couch and lay down in the air. Without even looking at it, he gestured lightly, and the refrigerator door opened in the kitchen, and a can of beer flew into his hand. (PA: One of Gyu-ha abilities (?) is psychokinesis so he can float and make things float.)
'I think it's about time to fill up the refrigerator.'
After all, it's a refrigerator with only alcohol and bottled water. He gulped down a cold beer and looked around.
In many ways, it was a space that contrasted with In Yoo-shin's house. Compared to In Yoo-shin's rooftop room, which was narrow and shabby but smelled like people living there, his officetel was only covered with a luxurious shell and was very desolate.
In the first place, the space called home was enough as long as it was safe to lie down and sleep. It was a useless high-class officetel, and it was not his will to equip it with furniture.
When he thought of In Yoo-shin and In Yoo-shin's house, he realized that they were apart. His heart started to tremble uncontrollably. It's a sound he has become accustomed to.
"Eye of Munin."
After briefly reciting the starter word, the coordinates spread out in front of my eyes, and a specific point flickered. The target was carried out by his Master utilizing a generic artifact. Upon knowing the Master's location, the heart, which had been anxiously babbling, quickly calmed down.
Hyeon Gyu-ha, who had been drinking beer satisfactorily while tracking the location of In Yoo-shin, who seemed to be quietly in the room, jumped up.
Suddenly, In Yoo-shin started moving.
‘Where are you going alone in the middle of the night?’
‘What a dangerous world it is!. A gate might open unexpectedly out of thin air, you might get hit by a car, you might get kicked, or you might find an abandoned hamster.’ For Hyeon Gyu-ha, the last one is the most fatal.
He was going to chase after him right away, but In Yoo-shin came back home. It seems that he went out to take out the trash for a while.
[I'm going to sleep early today, so I don't think I'll be able to answer Gyu-ha's call later. Have a good night.]
He looked down at the message that arrived and touched the screen.
[Good night. Dream of me.]
Even after sending the reply, he stared at the coordinates for a long time with an expressionless expression. The position of In Yoo-shin, which had stopped in one place, did not move afterward. Like the contents of the text, it seems that he really fell asleep. Only then comes complete relief.
“Fuck. What are you doing?”
Hyeon Gyu-ha ridiculed his psychology and threw his body back into the air. The agitation and stability of the mind that is forcibly encouraged only result in In Yoo-shin.
He’s on the verge of turning around because of the unfamiliarity with his own mentality of blindly looking after only one person's safety. If it had not been aroused by service to him and his mind steeped in boredom bordering on melancholy, he might have really commissioned a contract to kill him, ° øÎð or whatever.
‘No. Do I have to make a contract to kill him? It would be possible to put a killing skill on the road where In Yoo-shin passes by every day.'
In my head, countless ways to kill In Yoo-shin without using his hands came to mind, and then scattered as quickly as they came to my mind.
<…………… Who was the first person to worry about you?>
Hyeon Gyu-ha recounted the feelings he probably recalled on his own among the emotions stirred up. When he remembered In Yoo-shin's words, he felt a strange feeling that spread inside him.
“Who cares about whom, someone like me.”
He looked up at the hand that had been pierced with a knife. He thought of him who had been flustered and in pain as if he had been wounded as he wrapped his smooth hands with healing power, which had only blood stains but no scars.
The appearance of a fragile creature that can be easily killed with just one finger worrying about itself, really.
<Hyung, aren't you sick?>
The child who was crying with a blue face in fear, clutching the hem of his clothes and worrying about his wounds.
Hyeon Gyu-ha suddenly wondered what kind of adult the child from 19 years ago would be now.
*******
He couldn't sleep because he was immersed in complicated thoughts, and eventually overslept. He didn't have time to eat breakfast, so he stopped by the local supermarket before going to work.
'I shouldn't be late, so I'll take it to the office and eat it.'
It was the time when Hyeon Gyu-ha arrived home to give him a ride on his way to work. In Yoo-shin, who came out of the supermarket, was frightened.
“How did you know I was at the supermarket?”
“It is the instinct of a pet mouse to chase its owner. Are you going to work right away?"
“Yeah, but…”
In Yoo-shin was in a daze, as he got on his back. Hyeon Gyu-ha, as usual, tidied his front hair and put a helmet on him.
Thanks to that, he started his day without feeling awkward even after they broke up like that yesterday, but he’s still not in a hurry.
'Really, how did I know you were standing in front of a supermarket? Did I see him go into the supermarket?’
However, before clearing up the question, Hyeon Gyu-ha started the bike. In Yoo-shin quickly wrapped his arms around his waist.
“Let's hear about your buff on the way. What kind of buff is it?"
“To restore vigor and mana. I've only tamed mice so far, so I'm not sure how effective it is.”
“Try doing that to me.”
“Now?”
He didn't know how to use mana on their way to work, but he put a buff on it.
Hyeon Gyu-ha consumed mana in a simple way.
"Wow.......!"
A bike running down an alley rose into the sky. On the bike that slowly floats, In Yoo-shin's field of view also broadened.
The familiar scenery of the town unfolded beneath his feet like a bird's eye view or model. When he raised his head, he saw the scenery of skyscrapers rising into the sky past the hills. It had only risen a few meters, but it felt as if the clouds were close enough to be grasped by hand.
Even the cold wind was pleasant. It was as enjoyable and fun as riding a ride in an amusement park.
“I guess this is what it felt like to fly through the sky!”
"Do you like it?"
"Yes!"
The sense of floating that has risen so far in an instant is dizzying. But it wasn't scary. Because he knows Gyu-ha will save him.
Hyeon Gyu-ha laughed in a low voice.
“But it would be better not to use your buff while hunting monsters or inside dungeons.”
“Oh, is it not very effective?”
"No. It's a problem because it's too good."
“......?"
“I think I’m going to stand.”
------
Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader: PsycheAsylum, Ghostx
PA: Reaaaallllllyyy, when I see ‘Vigor’ I already having dirty thoughts………. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ) And when did Gyu-ha put a tracker to Yoo-shin?????≖ ͜ʖ≖)