Chapter 67

"Why are you suddenly like this?"

"I told you before. I think I've become too comfortable with you, and because of that, I feel like I'll make a mistake someday."

"..."

"That thought has grown stronger."

Why on earth is he like this?

"Do it. Make a mistake."

Soram also crossed his arms, hardening his voice.

"I still told you to be comfortable with me even if it doesn't matter. I didn't mean to keep everything while only telling you to be comfortable with words. If you make a mistake, just say sorry and end it. I'll laugh it off too."

"The line of that mistake will probably be very different for us. Still, your position is that you're the superior, Chief Jin, and I'm the subordinate."

"Hey... Have I ever treated you or Ayoung as subordinates?"

"I said it's not your problem, Chief Jin. It's more of an issue when the subordinate crosses the line."

"..."

The atmosphere that had loosened up for a change at the drinking session turned cold. Soram felt hurt that Tae-un kept running away without explaining, and Tae-un was uncomfortable with Soram knocking on the wall.

Soram sighed, holding his forehead.

"Why on earth... These days, you're only training with Ga-eul, and suddenly why."

If he said it was the karma of deliberately ignoring him in his previous life, there was nothing to say, but Soram also put in as much heart and attention this time. Moreover, it was different to have it taken away just as he was starting to feel joy compared to not having it from the beginning. It was frustrating that he wouldn't even tell him the reason for the sudden cold wind.

"Okay, then let's talk while strictly keeping the line. Why are you suddenly training with Chief Kim Ga-eul?"

"Because I want to become much stronger."

"Why, do you want to fulfill your awakening wish to save hunters?"

"Yes."

He thought his personality had changed from when they first met. But it seems that damn awakening wish hasn't changed. And his personality also seemed to have returned a bit to the past. To a more distant relationship than their first meeting in this life.

"...You're hurt."

He didn't know well, but when he faced him, it caught his eye. From below Tae-un's neck to his shoulder, there was a large bruise. It looked like he had been grazed by something or hit by something thick. Since he said all the wounds he got from the 1st-grade dungeon had healed, what left a wound on that sturdy 1st-grade body would be Ga-eul.

"Ah."

Tae-un covered that part with his hand. He knew it was a trivial wound, but the image of him being injured once again was drawn in front of Soram's eyes. His heart, which he had forcibly calmed down by pretending to be lazy, began to beat. It was partly because he rarely drank alcohol and partly because he was upset.

Once a trigger is pressed, it recurs more easily than before. With the added churning, it became even more precarious.

In the midst of that, Tae-un answered as if it was nothing.

"I'll take care of it myself."

"Don't get hurt or whatever. Don't make me worry or whatever. If it had come up a little higher, you know you would have gotten a deep wound on your neck, right?"

Soram reached out to Tae-un. When his hand touched his neck, Soram felt Tae-un's body temperature was hotter than he thought. And the moment his hand touched, Tae-un flinched greatly.

Tak.

Tae-un slapped Soram's hand away and stepped back a little. After taking an instinctive action, he looked at Soram's reaction. It meant that he was aware that it was an action that could hurt, not that it came out unconsciously.

"Ha."

"...Sorry."

"You touch my face or whatever whenever you want."

"This really wasn't on purpose. I'll fix the habit of touching you."

"Do you think that's what I'm trying to hear right now?"

Tae-un bit his teeth and lowered his head.

"Just tell me why you're suddenly like this. What, have I become terribly rude and annoying now?"

"It's not like that."

"Then what's the problem!"

"How many times do I have to say it's not a problem with you, Chief Jin?"

Chief Jin, Chief Jin. He uses the honorifics well even when not asked, but he doesn't answer when asked. Soram clenched his fists and shouted.

"Han Tae-un. Do you think I didn't notice you avoiding me for the past few days? Are you really not going to see me?"

"Who said I won't see...! I'm doing this to see you. To see you for a long time by keeping the line. So don't think unnecessary thoughts."

"Hey, why do you express your concern in that way? If you don't want to hang out with me because I suck, just say so!"

"I said it's not that!"

Eventually, a shout burst out of Tae-un's mouth. Surprised by his own yelling, he ran a hand down his face.

"Ha, concern..."

Tae-un sighed and gulped down the glass.

"I know Jin Soram ssi really hates me dying or getting hurt. I actually saw you get very shaken up too."

"...Of course. Who would like that in a good person?"

"I also know that concern isn't because Jin Soram ssi has feelings for me."

"What's that supposed to mean? Feelings... Huh?"

If asked whether the thoughts he had about Han Tae-un were good or bad feelings, it was obviously the former. He enjoyed seeing sides of him he hadn't seen before, and the strength of his teammate became his support. But it didn't seem like he was talking about that.

While Soram was at a loss for words, Tae-un, who had been biting his lips, spoke in a voice still tinged with agitation.

"So don't do it. I'm trying to fold up the feelings that have just started, but you're expecting and misunderstanding."

"..."

Uh...

"...Han Tae-un."

So...

"You like me?"

All that could come out of his mouth was a dazed mumble.

...Since when? No, before that. How on earth did he come to have such... feelings... Soram couldn't understand the current conclusion at all.

"Yes, it's an absurd feeling, so I'm trying to fold it up."

"Uh, no..."

Tae-un ruffled his own bangs and looked at Soram through his disheveled hair.

"I'll really fix the door now. Don't come over."

Han Tae-un likes me?

He likes me, and he's been acting strange until now to suppress those feelings?

Soram barely grasped that context. And the first impression that came out was this.

"Wow, your taste is really unique."

"I know."

"Why on earth do you like me?"

As expected, if he got embarrassed here, he wouldn't be Jin Soram. Tae-un poured a new shot of liquor next to him.

"I originally liked your appearance as a hunter. To be honest, in high school, you were almost like an idol to me. I admired you a lot from the first time I saw you on TV."

"..."

"After actually meeting you, I learned that you were a different person from what I imagined, but when you take care of Ayoung like an adult, you're cool, and... when you joke around, you're cute."

"...Oh my god. I've never heard such generous impressions even from friends I've been with for 8 years."

"I get jealous when you get close and friendly with those two."

"Wow..."

No, uh, ha... Soram uttered various exclamations and said,

"Han Tae-un ssi, how are you going to face me starting tomorrow?"

"...We'll manage somehow."

Tae-un put down the glass on the table with a thud.

"At this rate, we'll either have a big fight or get caught, so it's better to confess first and say I'll fold it up rather than that."

"Well, that's..."

"Anyway, I'm not saying I'll try to do something, I'll sort it out on my own, so just give me some time for a while."

Ha. Tae-un's sigh, which might be the umpteenth one today, continued. He got up from his seat, holding the sofa.

"Leave it. I'll clean it up in the morning."

Tae-un went straight into the bedroom. Soram was left alone like a flag stuck in the wilderness. The wind blowing from somewhere shook him back and forth. His already jumbled mind became even more tangled. Soram pulled out the straw from the remaining mango beer and gulped it down.

Han Tae-un? Me?

No matter how much he thought about it, it was something he couldn't understand at all. Moreover, judging from his attitude, it seemed to be sincere, not just a simple interest. He gulped down the mango beer again.

Han Tae-un? Me?

The confusion remained. Meanwhile, the airline commercial that had just launched today came on TV again. The two of them passed by each other in their pilot uniforms, making eye contact. The moment they brushed past each other, a faint smile lingered on Tae-un's face. Did he make such an expression? It was so brief that it was doubtful, leaving only a trace and disappearing.

Han Tae-un likes me, he tried to keep his distance from me to fold up those feelings, and that was the reason he had been treating me awkwardly. The causal relationship made sense and in a way understandable, but...

It was also a bit absurd.

Soram frowned for a moment. Could it be that in his life so far, he liked me, so... He followed my selfish stories and even sacrificed himself for me...

"No, that's impossible."

Honestly, even in this life, I'm not sure how he came to like me, and in the previous life, it's even more... But if Han Tae-un's taste is really extremely unique... His taste is already unusually unique now...

"..."

Soram's face flushed red. It was the first time someone had told him they liked him to his face during his repeated lives. He didn't know it would feel like this.

Soram turned to look at the door Tae-un had disappeared through. It seemed like the alcohol was rapidly rising. Then suddenly, the times he had been anxious about why Han Tae-un was acting like that for the past few days came to mind.

In a way, from my perspective, I was swayed by that taciturn guy keeping his mouth shut and doing his own thing, right?

"Haa..."

Soram chugged down the remaining half-glass of beer in one shot. Two cans. It was a truly enormous amount of drinking. But Tae-un had emptied more than a bottle of the liquor called hard liquor.

Soram wiped his mouth with his sleeve and opened the bedroom door Tae-un had entered. Upon hearing the sound of the door opening, the shoulders covered by the blanket flinched greatly. But he pretended to be asleep, ignoring it.

"You're just going to say what you want to say and leave?"

"Let's talk tomorrow! I'm so embarrassed I'm going crazy too."

Tae-un pulled the blanket and covered his head.

Soram might have thought Tae-un was doing his own thing, but for Tae-un, it was no different from being rejected before he even confessed, as soon as he realized he liked him. It was because anyone could see that Jin Soram had no such interest in him. So he was desperate to at least keep the position of a friend and fellow hunter.

The temperature gap between the two's interviews was even more blatantly revealed. Not knowing the feelings of the person who brought it up first to sort it out before it became irreversible after being found out.

"No. Get up!"

Soram raised both hands and smacked the back of the blanket, thud, thud. Tae-un ignored it and let himself be hit a few times, but when Soram got closer, he abruptly sat up and threw the blanket over Soram.

"Why are you really doing this! Go to your room!"

"Oh, dialect."

Soram blinked. It was a dialect with an accent on each syllable. Tae-un spoke in a voice that was pressed and contained by gripping the sheet.

"Do you have to be cheeky on the day I confessed? Go away, please."

"You said you like me! Why are you getting annoyed!"

"Does liking someone make you a Buddha? You get annoyed even with the person you like!"

A deep sigh escaped from his tightly closed teeth.

"But I like you, that's the problem."

"..."

Tae-un's face was red in a way that anyone could see was not from the alcohol. This time, Soram also forgot what to say. Tae-un also looked down, twitching his cheeks after spitting out the words. The atmosphere of the two flushed individuals was sweetly tinged with the influence of alcohol.