Vol 6 Chapter 34

Kapros regained consciousness when his eyes met Je-hwan's, who had changed into the clothes Kapros had provided and was now casting a huge shadow as he looked down at him.

"Sorry. I dozed off for a moment."

"No..."

As Kapros quickly sat up straight, Je-hwan looked down with a slightly regretful expression.

"I'll sleep here, so you take the bed in that room. I can't let a guest sleep on the sofa."

"What are you saying? You're still hurt."

"It doesn't matter. They're both soft anyway."

"If they're both soft, I'll stay here, so go inside."

Ugh. Using Kapros's own words against him - not bad.

"Would you feel comfortable sleeping alone in the bed as the host?"

Even after Kapros pulled the host card, Je-hwan's eyes only gleamed in response.

"The same goes for guests."

"..."

When Kapros fell silent, having nothing to say, Je-hwan pointed towards the bed.

"Can't two fit there?"

"Sorry, but it's a single."

"I think it would work."

Work? This was Kapros's house and bed - how could Je-hwan talk about it like it was his?

But by that point, Kapros had lost even the energy to argue, and thought it would be faster to just show that two people couldn't fit in that bed. He stumbled up, turned off the lights, walked over, and lay down. A moment later, he felt the bed sink and the full weight of another person climbing on.

Though this drew an involuntary groan from him, they both managed to settle on the bed with less pressure than expected. This was another unexpected mystery of his bed.

How many minutes passed as he closed his eyes silently, his mind filled only with thoughts of needing to sleep? Suddenly, a small voice came through the darkness.

"It's strange."

"...What is?"

"You."

That comment chased away some of his sleepiness. This guy - after not even throwing a punch and being nice enough to let him stay over, now what was he saying?

"What about me?"

"You... no matter what happens, after a little time passes, you soon return to being yourself. As if nothing happened before."

"...I've always been like that, why bring it up now? And it's not like I'm always like that."

"I know."

Yes, he wasn't always like that. While Kapros tended to quickly bury things once they were resolved, showing no lingering attachment in strange ways even after significant events, that didn't mean he forgot or didn't care. When Kapros emphasized this point, Je-hwan briefly acknowledged it.

"...When I came here, I didn't expect things to turn out like this."

Well, neither did Kapros. How could yesterday's him have known he would suddenly make such an important decision? To think he would propose physical intimacy with someone he couldn't have imagined until yesterday.

He laughed at how unreal it suddenly felt, but perhaps due to fatigue, his body was so drained that only a slight whistling sound came out.

"Come to think of it, why did you come back here?"

When Kapros asked about what suddenly occurred to him after hearing Je-hwan say he hadn't expected things to turn out like this, Je-hwan spoke in a low voice from behind him.

"That's... at the company..."

"Company?"

Je-hwan, who had been about to answer casually, suddenly stiffened when Kapros questioned him. Judging from the vibration felt through the bed, it seemed like he had suddenly remembered something he had forgotten, so Kapros painfully turned his stiff neck to look at the invisible face in the darkness behind him.

"Why did you stop mid-story?"

Despite Kapros's puzzled inquiry, Je-hwan didn't respond, so Kapros turned back and focused on fighting the sleep that threatened to overwhelm him. If Je-hwan had something in mind, he would speak when he wanted to.

And as expected, after a little more time passed, Je-hwan's low voice flowed into Kapros's ear.

"You..."

"What?"

"Haven't you... felt any suspicious people or presences around lately?"

It was a very sudden question. Kapros opened his half-closed eyes and asked back.

"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

When Kapros questioned the strangely careful tone that was unlike Je-hwan, after another moment of silence, there was a rustling sound as Je-hwan shifted slightly.

"I think I heard... that there's a serial killer roaming around this area lately."

Had there been such an incident? Why hadn't Kapros heard about it? Even if he didn't watch the news, if there had been such an ominous incident, he would have noticed from the neighborhood atmosphere when going out shopping.

Though puzzled, Je-hwan's attitude didn't seem like he was joking, so Kapros didn't ask why he had suddenly brought up such a question.

"Haven't you... seen anything?"

The voice clinging to his ear was low and quiet.

"How could I? If I had, I would have reported it. If you're so curious about the killer, why don't you stake out starting tomorrow? I'm going to sleep now."

Annoyed at such a pointless question being asked so seriously, Kapros brushed it off and moved closer to the wall, and Je-hwan, who had been silent, let out a sigh behind him.

While sleeping with someone else should have made him very tense as it had been a long time, in his state of fatigue where he had dozed off without realizing it, he couldn't muster such sensitivity even if he wanted to.

Just as his consciousness was sinking into drowsiness, an arm carefully extended and rested on his waist. Though he wanted to say something about the confining feeling, he didn't even have the energy to open his mouth, and when Je-hwan noticed no response, he fell asleep without being able to say a word as he felt the arm slowly wrapping around his abdomen.

"...Well, I just found the location, so there's no way they found it earlier... but still..."

In his half-sleep, Kapros faintly heard someone muttering, but he couldn't tell who it was.

The next morning. After suffering through an oppressive nightmare of being pressed down, Kapros opened his eyes to find arms and legs crushing him in reality, not in a dream.

Slowly raising his head, he saw a handsome face with closed eyes.

'Jin Je-hwan...'

Though it was a face he had seen quite often, seeing it like this made him newly realize after a long time just how handsome Je-hwan really was. Though his behavior of wrapping around another person's body like a vine and pulling them into his embrace was ridiculous.