Chapter 112

Soram looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It had already approached the right angle of the usual work start time. Soram sat down at the edge of the mat, still holding his absurdity.

"You've never even caused an accident before, aren't you nervous?"

"When we wake up, either Director-nim's order will have come down or the headquarters will have come to catch me. I'll think about it then."

"Are you really Han Tae-un? You seem like a different creature wearing the skin of the bear cub I knew."

A stubborn bear with a strong sense of law-abiding and adherence to principles, my goodness…

Tae-un closed his eyes after comfortably adjusting the angle of the pillow, regardless of what Soram said. It felt pointless for him to worry about going to work when Han Tae-un was doing this. Soram pushed the pillows lined up on the opposite side out of the blanket.

"Move over. I'm going to sleep too."

Tae-un slightly lifted his eyelids and moved to the side. As Soram lay down facing the opposite side of Tae-un, there was a rustling sound from behind his back, and an arm wrapped in a blanket embraced his upper body.

When he fell asleep with Tae-un, it seemed that he would hold him like this and sleep. Even Soram, who was used to sleeping tightly confined, would fall asleep without any discomfort thanks to that. Of course, most of the days they slept in the same bed, it ended up like that after mixing their bodies, so it must have been a big factor that he fell asleep in a daze without having time to feel uncomfortable.

"Jin Soram."

A voice came from close behind his back.

"What?"

Tae-un pulled Soram's body even closer.

"You said earlier that you'd answer me when you see me again. Won't you answer me?"

"...I don't want to. It's cheating."

"What's cheating?"

"I'm going to sleep. Don't talk to me."

Soram swiftly pulled the blanket to his side and curled up more. This time, Tae-un didn't persist. He just let out a slow breath without removing the arm that was holding Soram's body.

The thin checkered curtain hanging on the window couldn't fulfill its function as it looked and let a lot of light through. Occasional voices of people starting their morning could be heard from outside the window. The sound of birds, the sound of the wind, and the waves crashing. The sound of waves and the ticking of the clock mixed as if pushing the flow of time into the quiet room.

For Soram, the sound of waves was a sharp fear as if a live wire with its insulation stripped off was hanging in front of his eyes. Just hearing the sound of blue waves would make his body shrink due to the experience of the dungeon he had gone through three times. He deliberately chose a house in front of the sea to adapt to it. And he deliberately pressed and spread his shoulders in front of the window with a view of the sea.

Even now, his posture was curled up, but Tae-un was tightly hugging him from behind with both arms. Then, for the first time, the sound of waves seemed like a sound heard in a space of rest.

On the bed in the dormitory in Seoul, he had placed pillows all around. He wanted to feel like he was inside somewhere in his floating life. Tae-un easily accomplished all those efforts that Soram had been struggling with alone, with his two arms.

"...Han Tae-un."

"Yeah."

The answer came right away, as if he hadn't fallen asleep yet. Soram hid his head inside the blanket, hoping his voice would be muffled.

"But I don't like being called lovers or anything like that. It doesn't suit us. You think so too, right?"

Could a relationship with only one choice be called lovers? A relationship where they ended up together in the front line of the sky of the rift, a relationship where they had no choice but to be on the same team, he didn't want to call such a relationship with a word that everyone used.

"Then what are you going to do for me besides being lovers?"

It was a low voice but the expectation wasn't hidden. Well. What else could there be? The mind that had been pondering soon became hazy. It was natural for the body to not be able to overcome drowsiness when he laid his tired body in a warm place.

"Whatever you want..."

With those words, Soram fell asleep. It seemed that the cause of sleep was not only the fatigue of the body but also because he had let go of the heart he had been stubbornly holding onto. His mind slowly drew the curtains as his relaxed legs collapsed.

He didn't know what Tae-un's answer was. But Soram fell asleep first.

He had a very long dream.

Soram often fell into dreams since he was locked in a room and forced to study.

He sat on the bed and blankly looked out the window. As he envied the sky with a white crescent moon, the bed gently floated up. The bed, which had been floating around the room, broke the window that had confined him and went outside.

Eventually, the bed dropped him on a white snowy field. Soram, who was wearing headphones so that he couldn't hear any sounds around him, left the bed and ran in any direction. The blue mist that swayed as he wished appeared and pushed his legs, doubling his speed. The school uniform he was wearing had somehow turned into a black suit, and dress shoes were on his bare feet. His arms and legs had also somehow grown much longer, allowing him to stride forward.

Then, when he looked back, the bed he thought he had left far behind was there, and the blanket on it was folded into the shape of a paper airplane. Soram rode on it and flew, arriving in front of a window.

The snow had stopped, but it was still a cold winter. Sniffling, he looked inside the window and met eyes with someone.

An old and worn-out office. The person inside who discovered the suspicious person who had flown in from the sky observed for a moment and then opened the window. The moment Soram put his foot on the window frame, his body was pulled forward with a jerk. At that moment, Soram immediately recognized whose hand had grabbed him.

Han Tae-un pulled Soram into his arms and hugged him tightly. The arms that were wrapped around him so firmly that it was suffocating had such a strong presence. So it made it impossible not to know that there was someone who held only him in their arms.

When he opened his eyes after finishing the dream, there was an arm on his body like in the dream. Perhaps he had turned over in his sleep, but instead of facing away from Tae-un, he had his face buried between Tae-un's neck and chest. It was also a somewhat embarrassing posture.

Tae-un, with his eyes closed, let out a low breathing sound without waking up. Although the sound was sufficiently audible to the ear, Soram deliberately placed his hand under his nose. He felt the wind coming and going.

Since he had no desire to wake him up, instead of fiddling, he observed his face. The sunlight coming through the curtain gap had become brighter, making his face clearly visible. The clock he looked up at was past noon. He had only slept for three hours and woken up, but he didn't feel tired, perhaps because he had slept deeply.

When he wakes up, how about going to the gukbap restaurant that Min-ki introduced for a late meal? Since the pork cutlet was good to his taste, Tae-un would surely like it too. To think he has a child's taste with that appearance. Soram chuckled, looking at the thick eyebrows below the respectable forehead.

The day was unusually clear. And his body was also unusually light, and there were many things he wanted to do. Going to a delicious restaurant, looking around the nearby sea, and sitting together on a high cliff where both of them could fly in the sky.

The fantasy was so happy that he suddenly felt a dizzying sensation.

If the world really wants to make me unhappy…

It will open a dungeon at this very moment.

"..."

Soram reached out very carefully and placed his hand above Tae-un's ear. He repeated 'just a little more' in his mind and denied reality.

***

Soram, who had woken up first, could hear it. The murmuring outside, the screams big and small, unlike the peaceful hours before.

"What, what the hell is that!"

"Is it a dungeon or something? Contact the Busan Branch, quickly!"

Rumble―

"Aaaah!"

"There's smoke! Don't go that way!"

"No, let go! I'm telling you that boat is tied up!"

"Hurry, hurry and send people. It's a mess here!"

As the shouting from not far away grew louder, Tae-un's eyelids trembled. Eventually, he opened his eyes. Tae-un, who moved his black pupils as if figuring out the situation, heard a few words and pressed his hand on the floor.

"Soram-ah, I think something happened outside..."

However, he couldn't finish getting up. Soram was clinging to Tae-un's clothes and burying his head in his arms. Tae-un seemed a little surprised, but he sat down the body he was trying to raise and embraced Soram's back and the back of his head.

"What's wrong?"

"The dream won't end."

"..."

"I want to sleep more..."

Tae-un, who couldn't say anything, stroked the back of Soram's head and back as if comforting him. The touch was clumsy and affectionate.

"Keep sleeping. I'll go out and take a look."

Yeah, you were that kind of person. You like me a lot, but you're also a righteous person. Soram closed both eyes tightly with his face hidden in Tae-un's arms.

Beep, beep, beep―――!!!

Beeeeep―!!!!!

The two pagers belonging to the two hunters in the room rang violently. The alarm sound was twice as loud as when a dispatch signal was issued normally. A red light flashed on the screen.

Tae-un, who had received this signal from the pager for the first time, looked around with startled eyes. But Soram knew both of these signals.

The signal that came to Tae-un's pager was a Level 0 emergency standby order.

And the signal that came to Soram's pager was an emergency summons order to stop what he was doing and return to his affiliated branch immediately.

Woong― Woong―

Aaaaaang―! Aaang―!

Then, the cell phone also began to vibrate, and the sound of sirens erupted from outside the window.

The day when he had been living in tension for several days and briefly let his guard down for just one day, exhausted and tired.

The 3rd Great Rift had begun.