Chapter 63: A Quiet Morning, a Dangerous Misunderstanding

“Gk… ugh!”

So startled that even his scream cut off halfway, Sung Ji-woo clamped a hand over his mouth and hurriedly scrambled backward.
Yu Hiro’s brow, which had been relaxed in deep sleep, twitched, and his eyelids slowly lifted.
Sleep-heavy eyes peeked out from beneath them.

“……Why?”

Of all things, that was what he said.
“W-Why…? Why?”

Sung Ji-woo echoed Yu Hiro word for word.
Whether it was sheer shock or his language function had simply short-circuited, he couldn’t manage anything else.

“…Go back to sleep. We’ll talk later.”

What exactly they were supposed to talk about later, or why he was being this unconcerned, was completely beyond him.
Yu Hiro mumbled like a child throwing a sleepy fit, then reached out and caught Sung Ji-woo by the ankle—even from that distance—and dragged him straight back.

The sensation was uncannily similar to the vines that had once seized his ankle in a dungeon.
Back then, he’d panicked and run for his life……

Now, he couldn’t move at all.

Pulling him in, Yu Hiro drew Sung Ji-woo closer and wrapped him firmly in his arms.
Still clutching his chilled chest, Sung Ji-woo took a deep breath.
His racing heart refused to calm down.

‘How did Yu Hiro even know to find this place?’

He cautiously lifted his head, but even just the line of his jaw made it unmistakably Yu Hiro.

‘Does… this even make sense?’

His mind creaked uselessly, unable to produce an answer.
He pushed hard against Yu Hiro’s chest, trying to break free, but it didn’t budge an inch.

“What kind of sleeping habit is this…!”

“…….”

Staring at Yu Hiro, who had fallen back asleep as if nothing had happened, Sung Ji-woo tried to brush it off as just a bad sleeping habit.
But up until now, Yu Hiro had never once slept while holding him like this.

Since Sung Ji-woo had climbed into her car, Koo Min-ah had dropped him off at her house for the time being, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d gotten dragged into something deeply annoying.
In truth, she had been constantly checking the internet.
It was troublesome and irritating, but she couldn’t just ignore it and let things spiral further.

Regardless of the fact that Sung Ji-woo liked the countryside and felt at ease here, Koo Min-ah had been carefully gauging the right moment to send him back.
Even if she couldn’t immediately do that, she planned to make sure there was no visible connection between them.

That aside, there was no reason to waste manpower that had conveniently rolled in on its own.
Farming in the countryside was grueling work, after all.

“You want me to pick all of this…?”

“Yeah. Every single one.”

She didn’t want to do it either, but since her father had left the house because of her, she had no choice.

“Wow, this is seriously backbreaking labor. I don’t think I’ll ever eat vegetables lightly again.”

After focusing intently on picking peppers for a while, Sung Ji-woo straightened up, clicking his tongue.
He groaned about his aching back.
Having done this since childhood, Koo Min-ah’s posture looked natural and practiced.

But for Sung Ji-woo, who had lived his entire life in the city, it was overwhelming.
Using muscles he normally never did made his body itch with discomfort.
Still, he did his best in his own way.

Even though she’d said to pick them all, Koo Min-ah had never intended to work him to the bone.
Yet by the time the sun began to set, the pepper field was genuinely spotless.

“So how did you end up transferring from this countryside place all the way to Gyeonggi Province?”

“Well, because I’m an ability user.”

Sharing something personal was uncomfortable—almost unpleasant.

“If you’re an ability user, why transfer in your second year of high school?
You lived here before that, didn’t you?”

Koo Min-ah avoided answering and brought up something else instead.

“Mom says she’s making young radish kimchi, so take some with you when you go back to Seoul.”

Up until then, Koo Min-ah hadn’t planned on sending Sung Ji-woo back right away.
To be more precise, she had never imagined that she would personally contact Yu Hiro.

However, after seeing a certain post online, her plans changed.

[<Hunter Board> Did you hear the plan got changed?]

Yu Hiro said he was going to join the guild recruiting Sung Ji-woo, then suddenly said he’d join the guild searching for Sung Ji-woo insteadㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

No wonder he disappeared completely.

Sung Ji-woo definitely ran away.

Isn’t this actually legendary?

But the real legend is us getting dragged into their lovers’ quarrel.

f*ck, let me go home.

– At this point, I don’t care who it is, someone just catch Sung Ji-woo already.

– Wait, does that mean literally no one knows where Sung Ji-woo is right now?

└ Thought Yu Hiro was the crazy one, but Sung Ji-woo’s just as nuts.
└ Birds of a feather, science.

– Is there no detective for this? Hire someone already.

└ Our guild leader checked a private investigator agency and said they’ve already gotten tons of inquiries about this. First thing they asked was the price.
└ So they’re selling info to the highest bidder? What a shitshow.

– As a senior Hunter, I’ll say this to Yu Hiro: dude, if you got dumped, accept it like a man.

└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ “If you got dumped” lmfao
└ But honestly, didn’t he really get dumped? Stop denying it and face reality. Sung Ji-woo doesn’t like you.

– But seriously, how brave is Sung Ji-woo?

└ For real. Every guild in the country is searching and he runs off alone. The guts. If it were me, I’d be bawling.
└ And he literally became a Hunter today; until now he was just a civilian.

– I kinda want to know what fatal charm Sung Ji-woo has that caused all this.

└ Once you know, it’s hard to escape.
└ You’d get killed by Yu Hiro first though.
└ Knowing Sung Ji-woo’s charm vs. getting your neck taken by the country’s top Hunter
└ Ah f*ck, got it, I won’t; these idiots just keep going.

– Is it actually real that nobody’s found him yet even after lowering the conditions that much?

└ They’re sweeping the entire metropolitan area. How long do we have to keep this up?
└ We even mobilized mental-type ability users and still can’t find himㅋㅋㅋㅋ f*ck, does Sung Ji-woo have mind control too?
└ What even is thisㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[-Haa…… hello.]

A weary voice followed a deep sigh.

Through Guild Master Park Su-jin, Koo Min-ah obtained Yu Hiro’s number.
Apparently, Yu Hiro had handed out his own contact information to major guild leaders, all to find Sung Ji-woo.
At that point, Koo Min-ah sincerely thought Yu Hiro was completely insane.

And her life philosophy was simple: ‘Avoid crazy people at all costs.’
She’d sensed something was off while reading posts after returning, but since his reputation was good, she hadn’t expected it to be this bad.

Either everyone else was clueless—or just naive.

“Sung Ji-woo is here. Come pick him up.”

[-…f*ck. Who are you, and which guild?]

She thought she heard a curse slip out at the start, but she didn’t care.
Koo Min-ah glanced toward Sung Ji-woo, who was eating without a clue in her house.
He was leaning his upper body toward the porch, feeding a cat.
A mottled stray that had never even been given a name, living off the charity of an indifferent family.

“Koo Min-ah.”

[-……Just a moment, please.]

After a brief silence, the voice—once lowered—returned to normal.

[-Are you with hyung?]

Without confirming or denying, Koo Min-ah simply gave her home address and hung up.
She figured that if he didn’t come even after that, he’d just be stupid.
And Yu Hiro was not stupid.

Under a brilliantly shining moon, Yu Hiro arrived without a sound.
Koo Min-ah pointed toward the room where Sung Ji-woo was sleeping, clearly annoyed.
Thankfully, Yu Hiro understood and quietly stepped inside.

From far away, the cries of wild animals echoed faintly through the night.

He didn’t know how he’d spent the dawn.
Whether he’d slept or stayed awake all night, he couldn’t remember.
His body felt exhausted to the point of collapse, yet his mind stayed sharp and tense, making his head spin as if he were experiencing sleep paralysis.

Sung Ji-woo lay completely still until the sky brightened and Koo Min-ah called him for breakfast.
His eyelids felt unbearably heavy.
Through his barely opened vision, the familiar scenery of the countryside house from the night before came into view.
And also, looming over him, a very handsome face he knew all too well.

With his body feeling utterly limp, Sung Ji-woo thought, whatever happens, happens, and opened his eyes.

“Did you wake up?”

Yu Hiro asked in an unruffled voice, as if nothing at all had happened.
Aside from sounding a bit lower because it was morning, he was no different from his usual self.

“Yeah…….”

Sung Ji-woo answered weakly.
There was no need for him to stir up trouble by bringing things up himself.

“You were anxious because I wasn’t there, right? I understand.”

“…….”

What was he talking about now?
To hide his trembling pupils, Sung Ji-woo closed his eyes again.

“I heard bad people were swarming around you, hyung.
So you ran away. You must’ve been really scared.”

Did he not realize that he himself was the source of all this?

“They got your number like stalkers and kept calling you nonstop, so you turned your phone off. Right?”

Did he not realize that the one who’d stalked him all the way here—and slept beside him—was himself?

“It’s all because of those people.
You didn’t run here to avoid me, right? Hmm?”

Slowly, Sung Ji-woo opened his eyes.
Yu Hiro was staring down at him with a deeply sunken gaze, looking like he wouldn’t move until Sung Ji-woo said yes.

“……Yeah.”

Sung Ji-woo let the affirmation slip out like a sigh.
Yu Hiro’s facial muscles softened immediately.

“If you’d stayed by my side, everything would’ve been fine….
This time, hyung, you were just too hasty.”

The more he listened, the more absurd it sounded.
Sung Ji-woo let out a hollow laugh.

“You said in your message that it was my fault.”

“Exactly. It was your fault, hyung—so why did it feel like I was the one being punished?”

Yu Hiro murmured in a hoarse voice, then soon lowered his head.

“I’m sorry. I think I definitely got that wrong.
Will you forgive me…?”

At those words, all the tension drained out of him at once.
Without replying, Sung Ji-woo reached out and gently patted Yu Hiro’s head.

Bang!

The door flew open.
Koo Min-ah stood there.

“If you’re done with your cozy little talk, come out and eat.”

Sung Ji-woo sprang upright.
It was time to interrogate the informant who had caused this whole mess.