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Join the Server‘If I die, what will these guys do?’
They’re so blindly devoted, they only know me. What will I do when the time comes to send them away?
“…Why are you both so skinny? I told you to eat even without me, didn’t I?”
Seeing the two not even moving, let alone answering, Dokyeom let out a sigh-like laugh and patted their backs. Both burrowed deeper into his arms.
[Stability (b)]
Whatever scared them so much, Dali, crouching, trembled like a puppy caught in the rain. His usually lively snake tail was now listlessly lying on the ground, and Dokyeom could tell how worried he had been. Even Agon’s rough breathing showed how much he had agonized.
“Haa… I’m sorry.”
As he soothed them clinging to him like lifelines, Dokyeom suddenly spotted Taeseongyeon standing alone amidst the noisy crowd. Their eyes met like a flash of light.
This was it.
He knew the moment he saw him. If this was what he wanted to show him, then yes. This time, Taeseongyeon’s choice was right. If he wanted to plant the desire to live, he had won.
The ‘Power of Lust’ that he had offered.
Whatever Taeseongyeon brought later, if there was even a slim chance to fix this ruined body, Dokyeom fiercely thought he should accept it without hesitation. He could think about side effects later.
Taeseongyeon taught him that curing this terrible disease came first. He reminded him that living takes priority. And that taking care of those around him was what Dokyeom should do now.
As if sucking away his body heat, Dali and Agon’s incessant breaths gradually calmed. Accepting and soothing that overwhelming emotion, Dokyeom kept his eyes on Taeseongyeon.
For a moment, Taeseongyeon’s eyes seemed to lazily curve. It wasn’t surprising. Yet Dokyeom smiled back.
That was his own way of making a request to him.
***
“Come to think of it, hyung, you look better on screen.”
Baek Jiun, lying carelessly on the bed looking at his phone, suddenly blurted out. At that, Dokyeom, unable to move his trapped body, only stretched his neck to the side and shot a pathetic look.
“Got nothing better to do?”
“Even when I compliment you, you’re like this. It’s not that I have nothing to do, I’m looking for something to do.”
Watching Baek Jiun grumble, Dokyeom felt Dali burrowing into his arms and lightly lifted his arm to cover him with the blanket. Behind him, Agon was sleeping with a deep breath, tightly holding Dokyeom’s waist.
Both had fallen asleep as soon as they arrived, clinging to Dokyeom as if making up for days of lost sleep. According to Baek Jiun, they had been so restless they barely drank water. At this point, Dokyeom even worried about how thin Beom Yeonhu must be.
“No contact from Yeonhu hyung?”
“Hyung? Actually, I sent him a video earlier, but he only read it and didn’t reply. That hyung, I think he’s running here like a buffalo. Ah, it’s easier to find someone here who didn’t worry about hyung. Even that team leader who pulls his hair out every time you cause trouble was worried about you.”
Looking at the dim light in the room, Dokyeom quietly pondered Baek Jiun’s words. He said he was looking for something to do, but the sound coming from his phone was just a mobile game BGM.
After that, silence flowed between them for a while. Dokyeom silently took in Baek Jiun’s straight and youthful side profile.
The events inside the gate flashed through his mind. Certainly, in that moment exposed to violence, Dokyeom had seen Baek Jiun’s fate. Black fates splattered like ink, just like Han Yuseong’s.
Dokyeom thought constantly in that short time about how to interpret the fate that had come upon Baek Jiun without any warning. And he considered that this would be the end he would reach when walking this path with him.
So, now was the right time to make him step back.
“Jiun-ah.”
“Wait. Just a second, hyung. Let me finish this.”
“When you get discharged, look into other guilds besides Sahyeon.”
“Of course I’ll loo, huh?”
Baek Jiun’s head snapped toward Dokyeom like an arrow. With a bewildered expression as if he didn’t understand what he had heard, Baek Jiun frowned and met Dokyeom’s eyes.
“What are you talking about? Why would I look into other places?”
“I’m saying this because I don’t know what will happen to the guild after this incident. If you’re worried about the contract period, I’ll talk to the guild master, so take this chance to look elsewhere. Why is a guy with a bright future planning to rot his life away here?”
“Rot my life away? You don’t even know my contract period, so why are you making a fuss alone? Why are you doing this again? No, if you’re going to talk, talk so people can understand. Why are you suddenly picking on a perfectly fine guild?”
Baek Jiun sat up abruptly and roughly ran his hand through his hair. He seemed confused by the unexpected words.
“Be honest, hyung. You’re saying this to push me away, aren’t you?”
“Push away? That’s not it.”
“Then what is it? Is it that now that you’ve brought me along, you see more downsides than upsides? Do you not like someone who can’t even protect his own life because he’s too much trouble?”
“Baek Jiun.”
“What? If it’s not that, then what’s the problem? Isn’t this like sucking out all the honey and then throwing me away?”
His tone was low, but anger seeped through. Even though his raised eyes demanded a full explanation, Dokyeom couldn’t bring himself to say the words that were stuck in his throat.
Even if he said that staying with him would lead Jiun down the same path as Han Yuseong, would he believe him? He could roughly guess about others, but he couldn’t predict Baek Jiun’s fate, so Dokyeom’s inference about his future had limits.
It was even more so because the story had already diverged from the original.
“You almost died there, you bastard. Why don’t you think about that? I’m telling you to look elsewhere because it’s dangerous. Why are you twisting it like this?”
“Ah, I see. So I didn’t meet hyung’s standards. Well, fine. The soaring Beom Yeonhu hyung is S-class, and looking past Dali and Agon hyung, they’re stronger than me. I’m the biggest idiot after all. So what?”
From somewhere, the sound of running footsteps could be heard. It came from the far end of the hallway. Yet no one looked toward the door.
“As long as there’s something I can do, that’s fine, isn’t it? Even if it’s just a small help like this time, that’s enough.”
Baek Jiun, who had always been loose and immature, was now eerily calm and determined. In his rational persuasion and forceful confrontation of his own thoughts, there was not a trace of childishness.
“When have I ever backed out because I didn’t want to, hyung? Did I ask you to take care of me first because my life is gold? Just like this time, I can follow you and help. I can protect myself, and if I risk my body, I can protect you too. Why do you always borrow worries?”
Baek Jiun spoke sharply, his brow slightly furrowed.
“Rather, tell me that it’s my fault you ended up like this. If you cried and blamed me, then I would understand and step back. But if it’s not that…”
Baek Jiun put down his phone with a thud, his hand creakingly pressing into the bed.
“Don’t say things like look into other guilds or step back based on your own judgment. If you’re going to do that, you should step back first. There’s no one here who’s as sick as you.”
Those words struck like a wedge. The footsteps from afar were now close by. Just as Baek Jiun got up from the bed, the footsteps suddenly stopped, and the door that had been rattling swung open with force as if it would break.
In the dark hallway beyond the open door, someone stood as if they had just run over.
“Huff, huff…”
The broad body gripping the doorknob heaved. He was a large man in hastily thrown-on clothes, with a cap pulled low over his head. He was the most trained body Dokyeom knew.
Warm sunlight-colored eyes visible through his black hair. It was Beom Yeonhu.
He was looking at Dokyeom, having run over breathlessly. The rough breath flowing through Beom Yeonhu’s lips seemed to pause for a moment. Dokyeom saw his frowning face.
“Dokyeom-ah.”
The dry words flowed through his lips. As Beom Yeonhu quickly walked in and brushed past Baek Jiun’s bed near the door, Dokyeom felt a chill for some reason.
Time slows. Even sound and air stretch.
Feeling the floating air, Dokyeom moved his lips as if to say something. Then, suddenly, his vision blurred as if fogged.
And then came the sensation of the world flipping.
“!”
Everything in front of him swirled and was sucked into one place. Colors faded, the people before him disappeared, and the place he was lying on vanished.
What appeared after everything was erased was darkness that seemed to swallow him and a voice, those two.
[People are really crazy, hyung. I mean, what is this, a man-eating gate? Some say it’s a double dungeon, some say they were eaten by a monster. Where’s the monster here? It’s just an empty gate.]
It was a familiar voice. It was Baek Jiun, who had just been scolding Dokyeom with no smile. The grumbling voice brushed past his ears like a breeze. As he blinked, a faint scene flickered before his eyes.
Beneath a distant sky, it was a desolate land with countless stone walls rising. But because the surroundings were blocked like a maze, visibility was poor.
You’ve got to see this next! The Boy Who Bit Moma's Leaf will keep you on the edge of your seat. Start reading today!
Read : The Boy Who Bit Moma's Leaf
