Chapter 51: A Night With No Place to Return To

And his suspicion slowly turned into certainty. The shy, boyish demeanor had completely vanished—Yoo Hee-ro had become Sung Ji-woo’s permanent shadow.

“Are you… really planning to sleep here?”

“Yes.”

At Sung Ji-woo’s cautious question, Yoo Hee-ro replied without even a flicker of hesitation. It was past 10 p.m.—not terribly late, but not a time where one could heartlessly kick someone out either. Ji-woo asked with an awkward expression.

“Your house….”

“I haven’t found one yet.”

He had meant: Have you contacted your family back home?
But hearing Hee-ro’s answer, the rough outlines of his circumstances became clear. Like himself, Hee-ro had no one waiting at home.

“With your level, the Association would’ve given you a place to stay.”

“Yes. They probably did.”

During his return ceremony, Yoo Hee-ro had received an endless list of rewards. Some looked completely useless.

Among the few he skimmed through were: the car he was brought in, an apartment, a building, prize money, and a pension. He didn’t even bother reading the rest.

“But I don’t know where any of those are, and they’re not really my home yet. And your opinion matters too.”

“…Why my opinion matters in this, I have no idea. If you need advice, shouldn’t you go to Noker’s guild master instead—”

Since he himself had gotten help acquiring his building from him, it would have been useful advice. But that wasn’t the answer Hee-ro wanted. His expression stiffened.

“…Fine. I won’t be much help, but I can at least go with you.”

“Yeah. Let’s go together.”

At that, Ji-woo shrugged. Even if they were only a year apart, he had started working three years earlier—so it was natural that Hee-ro saw him as a dependable adult.

A gate was practically a world cut off from society. Inside it, you couldn’t know anything about the outside world. The gate and the outside world—completely different worlds.

“You sleep on the bed.”

“…Why?”

“You’re the guest.”

“No. I don’t want to be a guest. Sleep with me.”

“What?”

Ji-woo made a horrified face.

“…Is it really something to react to that extremely?”

After three long years in a gate, Ji-woo had come to one firm conclusion:
Men should never sleep skin-to-skin with other men.

“I’ll get hurt if you keep rejecting me like that.”

Ji-woo exhaled and loosened his expression.

“Sorry. But still, sleep on the bed alone.”

“Then you?”

“I’ll sleep on the sofa with Soon-rye.”

Hee-ro froze halfway up onto the bed.

“…Soon-rye? Who’s Soon-rye?”

His voice sank low. Ji-woo gently petted Soon-rye, who had come over to nuzzle him.

“My dog.”

Simple and clear. But Hee-ro’s face hardened.

“There’s no dog here.”

“…Huh?”

Ji-woo turned, confused. He stared at Soon-rye curled up cozily beside him.

“That’s not a dog.”

“…Then what?”

“A divine beast.”

“Oh, right. That’s true.”

Because Soon-rye had lived in dog form beside him all this time, he had unconsciously thought of him as a dog. Ji-woo scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“My hyung’s friend carries his divine beast around in some capsule thing… why is yours always wandering around next to you?”

When Hee-ro pointed at him, the normally gentle Soon-rye bared his teeth and growled.

Wong!

He lunged to bite the finger pointed at him, but Hee-ro was faster. Without even glancing at the divine beast, he withdrew his hand at the perfect moment.

Soon-rye, having failed, let out another growl and pressed himself tightly against Ji-woo’s side.

“Why the hell are you two fighting?”

“Can’t you put him away? Please?”

Hee-ro’s eyebrows drooped pitifully.

“You saw him try to attack me just now. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep… If you can’t put him away, can you at least stay next to me and protect me?”

“…He’s not the kind of guy who attacks people.”

Ji-woo looked down at Soon-rye with a bewildered expression. As if offended by the accusation, Soon-rye snorted and flopped down with his chin on Ji-woo’s arm.

When Ji-woo had been preparing a divine beast capsule to send to Goo Min-ah, the thought had crossed his mind. But ultimately, there was no reason to put Soon-rye inside.

Soon-rye wasn’t a combat beast, and Ji-woo had zero intention of ever taking him into a dungeon. To him, Soon-rye wasn’t a divine beast—he was a pet.

So Ji-woo weighed the options in his head: Hee-ro or Soon-rye.

‘Wait. Why am I even debating this?’

The fact he was even considering it felt absurd, so he stopped. Tired of the bickering, he gave a half-assed response.

“Fine. Then sleep here. Even if it’s cramped.”

Thankfully he had bought a generously sized bed. Otherwise he would’ve been stuck sleeping pressed right up against Hee-ro.

With a toothbrush in his mouth, Ji-woo took out a new toothbrush from the shelf and tossed it into Hee-ro’s arms.

“Go wash.”

“Yes!”

Hee-ro’s expression brightened instantly, and he answered cheerfully. Ji-woo sighed softly at the sight.

He had thought that he had raised the kid well and sent him off—but who would have guessed that the kid would come back like a boomerang?

He had assumed Hee-ro would’ve forgotten him long ago. What had he even done to warrant being sought out like this, four years after graduation?

Was being ostracized by his peers such a significant influence on his growth? Or did the lack of a home to return to leave a deeper sense of insecurity?

The fact that he had come to him first—not anywhere else—and spent the entire day holed up beside him… it made Ji-woo feel strangely sorry for him.

So he thought he should at least indulge the kid’s clinginess a bit. He himself had judged too harshly earlier.

After washing up thoroughly, Hee-ro returned looking noticeably refreshed. It wouldn’t have been strange if ten, even twenty years had been etched into his face after living in the X-Gate, but Hee-ro returned with unblemished skin—as if he’d been receiving skincare in there. Aside from a few minor bruises.

Ji-woo applied medicine to the small scrapes, and Hee-ro chuckled softly. When Ji-woo asked why he was laughing, Hee-ro answered in a low, drowsy voice:

“It’s just… this is the first peaceful night I’ve ever had in my life.”

“…You’re still a kid. Don’t say things like that.”

“Hyung, you talk like someone who’s lived a long, weary life. You know we’re only a year apart, right?”

“…Let’s call it a difference in mental age.”

“I’ve been told I’m mature for my age, though. Weird.”

“I don’t think so. Who told you that?”

Just the proposal incident alone disproved that. Ji-woo teased him, saying it couldn’t be true, and Hee-ro let out a soft laugh.

“If you knew what kind of mature thoughts I’m having right now, you’d be shocked.”

“…What kind of thoughts?”

“Should I tell you?”

Even in the dark, Hee-ro’s deep brown eyes gleamed. Ji-woo reached out and switched off the lamp beside the bed.

Click.

The room went pitch black. Ji-woo lay down.

“Stop talking nonsense and sleep.”

“Okay.”

Hee-ro obediently lay down beside him. He didn’t look tired, but he must have been exhausted—within minutes, he was breathing evenly in sleep.

Ji-woo stared up at the dark ceiling. Then he looked around the peaceful room, then at Hee-ro sleeping soundly.

It must’ve been his first time in three years sleeping in a room with walls and a ceiling. Thinking that, his earlier whining to sleep together suddenly made sense.

‘He must’ve been scared….’

He remembered hearing that Hee-ro had been asking around about him from the moment he entered the X-Gate. Back then, he had brushed it off—but looking at it now, it really was something.

Ji-woo opened his phone and searched Hee-ro’s name online.

[The Future of Korean Hunters—Who Is HERO?]

(…article translated faithfully…)

Ji-woo read through the pile of comments.

He had no idea why people were laughing at the mention of his name. Frowning, he closed the window.

Useless rumors. Nothing helpful.

‘Saying he’s going to quit being a hunter… or that he’s going to go to America and marry me? They really put effort into their bullshit.’

Still, reading the article made him truly grasp Hee-ro’s scale. The person sleeping peacefully beside him had likely received hundreds—no, thousands—of recruitment offers.

Like any other hunter, Hee-ro would eventually choose a guild and begin his real career. His clinginess wouldn’t last forever.

Right now, he seemed lost, with no place to settle. But once he found where he belonged, he would be fine.

‘It definitely won’t be Noker….’

Given his ability and reputation, a gathering guild like Noker wasn’t an option.

Je-do Guild, the rank-1 monopolizer, was a better fit. But… that guild might have that trash in it. Yoo Ho-bin had interned there in high school.

If Je-do had any sense, they wouldn’t hire someone like that. Still, you never knew.

He absolutely didn’t want Hee-ro involved with those people. Though honestly, the chance of Ho-bin joining Je-do was about as likely as an elephant squeezing through a needle hole.

Remembering that trauma, Ji-woo took a deep breath. That world was gone. This was a different one.

He opened another post tagged with Yoo Hee-ro’s name.
Then another.
And another.

While tracing the last three years of Hee-ro’s footsteps, dawn arrived.