Chapter 16: A Day Indoors

Kang Hae-il, seated closest to the entrance, was the first to move this time. While he retrieved the mission envelope, Ma Won-ho rose from his seat to clear the dishes.

“Shouldn’t we all look at this together?”

“I’ll go wake Dohwa!”

Since the mission applied to everyone, Chaeyeon-woo headed upstairs to retrieve Dohwa, who was still absent.

Unlike the first floor, the second floor was utterly silent.

He opened the door and approached the bed, a prominent mound in the dim room, shadowed by blackout curtains.

“Dohwa, it’s time to wake up.”

He gently shook Dohwa, who was curled up, clutching the blanket with one hand, deep in slumber.

Dohwa’s brow furrowed as his consciousness faintly returned, disturbed by the interruption, but Chaeyeon-woo chattered on, unperturbed.

“The bell just rang, and we got a mission! Everyone downstairs is waiting for you because we have to see it together.”

Ordinarily, he would have ignored it and continued sleeping, but Chaeyeon-woo’s insistent words about everyone waiting forcibly pierced through his drowsiness, bringing him fully awake.

After all, inconveniencing others was something he detested.

Yet, his body protested the lack of sleep, his eyelids constantly drooping, urging him back to slumber.

Finally, he reluctantly forced himself up. Declaring his mission accomplished, Chaeyeon-woo rose and drew back the blackout curtains.

“Ugh.”

“Alright, let’s go downstairs.”

As Dohwa instinctively recoiled from the sudden light, Chaeyeon-woo steadied him.

Led by Chaeyeon-woo’s hand, he stumbled his way to the top of the stairs, where an instinctive sense of alarm finally allowed him to open his eyes properly.

“I brought him!”

“Looks like you just woke up. Sleep well?”

As he descended the stairs, glancing into the living room, Jae-hyun greeted him with a warm, friendly voice.

Too drained to speak, he merely nodded and continued down, only to be guided by Chaeyeon-woo’s hand once more, settling onto the sofa.

Someone extended a glass of water towards Dohwa. He looked to see who it was: Kang Hae-il.

Again, he bowed his head in thanks, then took the glass with both hands and gulped down the water, a refreshing jolt that banished the last vestiges of sleep.

‘Drinking cold water on an empty stomach isn’t good.’

Having regained some vitality after drinking the water, Dohwa belatedly looked around, only to find everyone staring at him.

“Th-the bell rang….”

Flustered, he lowered his head, eyes fixed on the floor, his voice trailing off into a whisper.

“I’ll open it now.”

Fortunately, Kang Hae-il opened the envelope he held, drawing everyone’s gaze away from Dohwa and allowing him to finally lift his head.

After a quick scan, he silently passed the paper to the person beside him.

As it was passed around, the paper finally reached Dohwa, who then read its contents.

[Home Day]

[Please enjoy your leisure time together freely inside the house for the rest of the day. P.S., dinner cannot be eaten outside.]

Upon reading it, he cheered inwardly.

He hadn’t realized that not having to go outside could bring such immense joy.

He carefully maintained his composure until the last person had seen the mission, after which discussions about the various entertainment options within the house began to emerge.

“There’s a TV, but since we have a beam projector, why don’t we watch a movie with that instead?”

“So there was a Mintendo Wii in the second-floor playroom; that explains everything.”

“Weren’t there board games next to it too?”

Dohwa, who hadn’t even known such things existed, blinked blankly, listening intently to everyone’s suggestions.

‘It makes sense that the production team brought so many things for us to play with in this large mansion.’

Dohwa was still in the same pajamas as yesterday, but looking around, he noticed that everyone else, except Ma Won-ho, was dressed in what looked like outdoor clothes.

‘I should have at least washed my face.’

A wave of belated embarrassment washed over him.

Ma Won-ho, also in the same attire as yesterday, appeared perfectly fine, as if he had been awake for quite some time, a stark contrast to Dohwa, who clearly had just rolled out of bed.

‘I feel a little betrayed.’

“We can play games separately. How about we all watch a movie together?”

“Sounds good!”

“That works.”

“Then let’s all get ready and meet back here later.”

As soon as the next plan was set, he was the first to rise and swiftly ascend to the second floor.

No one watching his retreating figure thought he was particularly fast, but regardless.

Back in his room, he grabbed his toiletries and washed up with unprecedented speed. Drying his hair was a bother, so he only did it enough to stop it from dripping.

He glanced at Chaeyeon-woo curling his hair and Woo Sori applying makeup in the adjoining powder room, then stood beside them, smoothing moisturizer and lotion onto his face.

“I wonder what movie we’ll watch.”

“Right? Do you have a favorite genre?”

“I like thrilling things. Like horror, for example?”

Dohwa’s body briefly stiffened at Chaeyeon-woo’s words, having overheard their conversation.

But more importantly…

“….Have you two perhaps dropped formalities?”

“Oh, right. I forgot to suggest we speak casually.”

When he cautiously spoke, seeing them converse so comfortably, both stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

Thinking back, Chaeyeon-woo might have already dropped formalities when waking him, but he had been too groggy to notice.

“Since the ‘Alphas’ already dropped formalities among themselves, we should do the same.”

Woo Sori smiled brightly as he recounted what Ma Won-ho had said yesterday, and Dohwa nodded. They would be seeing each other continuously anyway.

“We’re friends too, so let’s speak comfortably now!”

“Alright.”

Having agreed to speak casually, he left the powder room to change his clothes.

He realized that finding a movie everyone wanted to watch, and no one had seen, was an incredibly difficult task.

Consequently, he decided to compromise and participate in the movie selection.

“Does anyone have a movie they want to watch?”

As Ma Won-ho scrolled through the movie list, Woo Sori quickly answered the question. A sigh seemed to come from nearby, but he dismissed it as his imagination.

With no one else volunteering, Ma Won-ho, who had been scrolling, suddenly paused his finger.

“Since you said no to horror, how about an animated movie? I think I heard this one was quite good; has everyone seen it?”

Not a single person had seen it.

Dohwa had watched all the latest seasonal anime, but rarely movies, so this one was new to him as well.

“Let’s keep looking for now and put this on the shortlist.”

“Sounds good.”

After that, several recommendations came up, but for every good one, at least two people had already seen it.

Even Dohwa, who considered himself someone who rarely watched movies, had seen a few of the suggested titles.

Beside him, Kang Hae-il never once raised his hand when asked if he had seen a movie, nor did he utter a single word during the entire discussion.

As he was naturally a man of few words, people seemed to pay less attention to his silence.

“….Hae-il, do you not watch many movies?”

“Unfortunately, that’s true. I think it would be good to watch one together this time.”

When Dohwa whispered the question to Kang Hae-il, he received a reply while the other man continued to stare straight ahead.

‘Indeed, it might even be better.’

Not having seen it meant he could experience so much anew. Dohwa, who often saw reviews like ‘I’d pay to unsee this and watch it again for the first time,’ nodded in agreement.

“We’re going to spend all our time just looking for a movie. Let’s just watch that animated one we talked about earlier.”

“I was planning to watch that one anyway, so I’m completely on board!”

As time dragged on, their patience wore thin, and they eventually looped back to the first suggested movie, deciding to play it.

‘If it’s an animated movie, I might fall asleep watching it.’

He wasn’t sleepy at that exact moment, but if the movie turned out to be boring, there was a high chance he would close his eyes.

“Alright, I’ll start it then. Does anyone need to get anything?”

“….I’ll just quickly go to my room.”

While they were choosing the movie, he had felt a chill from the air conditioner and realized he needed to get a cardigan to wear over his short-sleeved shirt.

Disliking anything scratchy, he rummaged for a soft, plush cardigan, and as he put it on, his cold arms felt cozy. When he returned to watch the movie, the small table was fully set with snacks and drinks.

Once everyone was ready, the movie began to play.

After the intro scenes, a few characters appeared, and the story gradually started to unfold in earnest.

As they watched the film, Jae-hyun, who was seated furthest from Dohwa, sensed something amiss. By then, the movie was already nearing its climax.

“Are you crying?”

A stunned silence followed his bewildered question.

Everyone else, except Jae-hyun, already knew.

“….Sniff.”

A small, timid sniffle offered a quiet response, yet Dohwa’s eyes remained glued to the still-unfolding movie.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

I Was Born, and the Vixen Was Already Waiting

Ancient SettingsDarkRomanceDragons

Read Now →
Not interested