Chapter 176

***

"Did you seriously think we wouldn't be recognized?"

"..."

The two, heading to the amusement park chosen by the younger lover as their date spot, had their names called out loudly before they could even get in line for entrance tickets, let alone ride any attractions. Huh, Han Tae-un? Jin Soram?! What? Where?! The heads of people around all turned towards them at once. As the two retreated slowly, people said with their mouths, "Huk, are you leaving because of us? Just enjoy yourselves and go," but their hands were busy moving over their phones.

After escaping from there, the two came to a deserted building rooftop. Though it was just past lunchtime, yellow had already mixed into the sunlight. Tae-un sighed as he brushed back his bangs swaying in the wind.

"I didn't know there would be so many people even on a weekday."

"You've lived in Seoul for quite a while, and you still don't know about Seoul crowds?"

Soram went towards the dark wall and plopped down on the ground. The sneakers that followed behind kicked away cigarette butts around. But when that raised dust instead, he picked them up by hand and threw them far away. After cleaning up the area, Tae-un crouched down in front of Soram and fiddled with his phone, still looking regretful.

"I wonder if the night opening would be better."

"Do you really want to go that badly?"

"I realized we've never done anything like a proper date. Not in the previous life, not in this one either."

"What? So the purpose of coming here wasn't to check the place where the Great Rift will occur."

"I was going to do both. If we just saw the Great Rift location and went back, you might..."

Tae-un glanced at Soram and then lowered his gaze back to his phone.

"...You might have a hard time."

So that's why he chose a menu he wouldn't touch much himself, and made plans to take him to a nearby amusement park? The crowded amusement park wouldn't be to his taste either.

Soram had no idea what a proper date was either. They just spent time together not knowing, and it was never boring. Soram exhaled a long breath through his nose and pulled Tae-un's arm. The large figure that had been crouching plopped down.

"Forget it. I don't really want to go to the amusement park. Stop looking it up."

He even turned off the screen showing a blog review of Lotte World's night opening.

"If we go there, I don't think I'll show a good side of myself. If we go all that way and I end up collapsing, how would you feel, not to mention my feelings?"

"Collapse? Are you sick somewhere?"

Tae-un's hand immediately came to feel his forehead. What the heck, usually he worries about unnecessary things, but why doesn't he know this?

"No, I'm not sick. I'm... scared, you know."

"...?"

Tae-un's eyebrows twisted in confusion.

"Are you scared of rides? You fly much faster than that."

"As if it would be that. Besides, you know."

"...Because there are many people? Because people will recognize you? ...Ah, maybe the fireworks? They only do those on special days."

"Hey, who would stand better in front of people, you or me? Talking nonsense about fireworks. Are you pretending not to know now?"

"There's no way... Is there something I'm not understanding?"

It felt like they weren't just talking in circles, but their points were completely misaligned. Before it got more frustrating, Soram spoke frankly.

"You know. I had a bad experience with the zoo when I was young, and after going through the 4th Great Rift several times, I absolutely can't stand animals."

"Animals? What does that have to do with... Oh."

Aah... Tae-un let out a deflated sigh.

"I know that, but Soram-ah, there's no zoo in Lotte World."

"Huh?"

There isn't? Soram looked at the distant amusement park sign. A brown animal of unknown species was wearing human clothes and smiling. With even the sign like that, why?

"Everland and Seoul Land have separate zoos, but this place only has rides. If it was a place with a zoo, I would never have suggested going."

"..."

"You've never been there before?"

"Uh..."

The last amusement park had been the one where he had made unpleasant memories when he was very young. It was probably one of the two places Tae-un mentioned. But why had he been assuming there was a zoo inside there too?

"Well, with residential facilities and the city center so close, a zoo would be dangerous..."

There's no way there would be space for a zoo in such an expensive neighborhood... As his belief crumbled, the circumstances started to look a bit more calmly. Come to think of it, he had heard the screams of people riding attractions while passing by this area, but never animal sounds.

Suddenly, he laughed at how ridiculous it was. Just how much had that damn trauma been overlapping to blind him?

"Hmm, I was scared for nothing."

"..."

Anyway, he learned one good thing from today's outing. There's no zoo in Lotte World in Jamsil. Ah, no. Two things. Han Tae-un dislikes mushy radish. Up to that. Remembering how he had swallowed the piece of radish placed on his spoon made him smile. Even trivial things seemed like interesting facts.

At times like this, he would suddenly feel resentful again. Why was he the only one in a situation where he couldn't hold onto these emotions for long and they would soon fade?

Still, not wanting to ruin today, he tried hard to shake off those thoughts. If only for the sake of Tae-un who had been taking care of him for days, he should try to drive away depressing thoughts until they returned to the dormitory.

"Han Tae-un, is there anywhere else you want to go besides the amusement park..."

Where Soram turned his head, Tae-un was still looking at him.

"Why are you staring like that?"

But somehow his expression was stiff. His complexion had turned pale enough to make Soram want to return the question of whether he was sick somewhere. Belatedly, he remembered that Tae-un was also an injured person who had been shot.

"Han Tae-un, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

"..."

"What did you say?"

Now he was biting his lips. As Soram tried to look closer, his body was suddenly pulled forward. Then two arms tightly held his upper body. Ugh. His breath was cut off. This Han Tae-un bastard clearly didn't know that his power had increased due to regression too. His physical strength had been overwhelming originally, so now probably only Kim Ga-eul could match Han Tae-un in strength.

His forearms and ribs were pressed without any gap. Even while being hugged so tightly he might be crushed, Soram soon leaned his head to feel more of the warm temperature. There was no way he could dislike the arms that pressed him close without needing to hug back.

"What is it? Did you pretend to be sick because you suddenly wanted to hug me?"

Even though they said no one was here, it was still a wide-open building rooftop. It would be a big problem if someone passed by above. Of course, the other flying hunters, the director and Ayoung, would be at the headquarters, so Soram continued to stay in the embrace. It was nice to just quietly hear Tae-un's breathing without him saying anything.

Then Tae-un suddenly pulled his body away. He stood up abruptly.

"Let's go."

"Huh? Where?"

"Let's go see with our own eyes. That there's nothing you're afraid of."

"What? Hey, forget it. It's fine if you know now."

"No. We're going."

Tae-un finally made Soram get up from his seat. Then he wrapped an arm around his waist and rose into the air.

"Huh, what are you fixated on now?"

Han Tae-un sometimes had moments where he charged in the direction he wanted to go like a bulldozer. As if he would load Soram onto the bulldozer's large shovel and just dash off even if Soram said he didn't want to and lay down. His eyes now were exactly like those times.

"I'll go. On my own feet."

Soram wrapped blue mist around his legs to float his body, but still the hand around his waist didn't let go.

***

They returned to the dormitory in the late evening.

It felt tiring even though they hadn't done much. Soram flopped down on the sofa in the same position he had passed through the entrance. He was alone in the dark dormitory. Tae-un had been called by the director and deputy director, and said he would stop by the office on the way to pick up something.

The sudden summons was probably because sightings of them at the amusement park had surfaced.

Soram could now say with certainty no matter what anyone said. There was no zoo there. Not in the outdoor facilities, not in the indoor facilities, not in the artificial structures that seemed like something might be hidden in them. He knew because he had been dragged around by Tae-un's hand to thoroughly search everywhere. Quite a few photos must have been taken while they walked around briskly without riding a single attraction.

'In a way, it might be good that sighting reports are spreading...'

The group that had instigated harm against Soram and Tae-un was having their breathing space narrowed moment by moment. In the midst of that, hearing news that the two targets were out having fun normally would make the internal situation interesting to watch. Since they gained absolutely nothing compared to the massive losses, they probably wouldn't think of trying anything again.

Soram, who had been unconsciously running calculations in his head, unpleasantly closed his eyes and stretched out his body.

What's the use of that anyway? Everything here and there will all end anyway.

After being in a noisy and flashy place for a long time, the silence of the dormitory felt especially big. Even the sound of his sigh expelled at the ceiling was clear.

Sniff.

His heightened sense of smell caught the scent of dust. The rooftop earlier had been quite dirty. They had also walked around crowded places.

"...Augh..."

Soram, who had been wrestling with laziness, finally got up. And he headed to the bathroom while taking off his top.

When people fall into depression and lethargy, they tend to let go of taking care of themselves first. Soram was no different in not wanting to do anything for himself, but he lived too close to the person he loved to leave his dirty body as it was. Though it was too late to do anything about his collapsed mental state, he didn't want to show ugliness to the point of feeling physically unpleasant. That was the force that at least made Soram get up from his seat.

Washing, showing minimal eating and movement.

Hot water flowed down over his naked body. His hands moved mechanically between the shower, shampoo, and body wash.

As he was rinsing off the last of the foam, he heard the sound of the front door lock opening. The footsteps heard from outside the bathroom door walked a few steps in the living room before approaching this way after hearing the water sound.

"Soram-ah, are you washing?"

"Yeah."

Click.

And the bathroom door opened. A black head of hair came in through the door gap and stared intently at Soram showering. The calm gaze, to the point of being shameless, was so absurd that he didn't even think to be surprised or cover anything. Soram tilted his head as he turned off the water with a thud.

"Aren't you being too brazen?"

"Are you feeling okay?"

It felt like something else hot was added just as the cold was about to come after the hot water stopped. Maybe it had welled up from inside.

"I'm okay. It's not like before anymore."

"..."

"There was nothing hard about what happened today. So you don't need to worry."