Chapter 79: If Not Him, Then Me

“Should I get you something to drink?”

No sooner had I asked the kind of question you’d ask when someone visits than I wondered if I actually had anything to give.

Turning around, the dizziness I’d momentarily forgotten surged back, making my body sway violently.

My vision wavered, and I couldn’t keep my balance.

Before I knew it, Yeo Hyun-tae was standing close by.

“No, wait!”

Unlike when he’d grabbed my shoulder or waist at the production presentation or earlier at the door, both his arms reached much lower and suddenly lifted me clean off the ground.

Never in my life had I imagined being swept up like this.

Startled, I shouted involuntarily, but Hyun-tae’s face remained calm as he stepped toward the bed.

Soon, my body was gently lowered onto the mattress.

Still dumbfounded, I sat there with my mouth open, wondering what had just happened.

But Hyun-tae’s eccentricity didn’t stop there.

“No, I’m really fine!”

He abruptly took the towel I’d hung around my neck after my shower and began patting the moisture out of my hair.

I raised my arm to stop him, but his hands were busily moving above my head, distracting me until I just ended up sitting there with my arm lifted.

“You’re fine, so just sleep.”

Deciding my hair was dry enough, he let go, then gently pushed my shoulders until I lay down, even pulling the blanket over me.

“Let’s talk after you wake up.”

…Wait, talk after I wake up?

So he meant to stay until I did?

The situation of telling a guest to go to sleep, and the idea that he would wait for me to wake up, were both absurd.

But the most absurd thing was…

“Good night, Jae-seo.”

I was actually falling asleep, just because he’d laid me down on the bed.

His face, perched on the edge of the bed looking down at me, gradually blurred, and soon my eyes closed completely.

***

Whether to call it fortunate or not, I woke up less than three hours later.

Thanks to the short nap, the alcohol had mostly worn off.

“Haa…”

Maybe it would have been better if the alcohol had lingered.

That thought crossed my mind when I saw Hyun-tae bundled uncomfortably into the desk chair, asleep.

Should I wake him?

Leave him?

I wrestled with it, then finally shook my head and sat up.

With a clear head, both options pricked my conscience.

“Ugh.”

Grunting at the weight—incomparable to Woo-rim sitting on my lap before—I carefully lifted Hyun-tae onto the bed.

Once he was lying straight, I covered him with the blanket and let out a deep sigh.

“…No wonder he seemed unnaturally big.”

I muttered, looking at the bed that still had plenty of room after laying down the large Hyun-tae.

That enormous bed, taking up nearly half my cramped apartment, had always struck me as odd, but now I realized it was all for this purpose.

At the same time, I thought of the “favorability event” with Hyun-tae that now seemed imminent.

Unconsciously, my gaze drifted to his crotch.

What had I said then… That it was big and handsome like its owner?

“…And how am I supposed to put that thing in?”

I muttered blankly, then startled myself and clutched at my hair as if to tear it out.

The fact that I was already thinking about “putting it in” so naturally—it was infuriating.

…Will I be like this even after I go back to the real world?

The sudden thought made my skin crawl.

Given the way my mind was already picturing a relationship with another man—and being the bottom, at that—after just one gay sexual experience, it seemed entirely possible, and fear crept over me.

Then my gaze happened to fall on Hyun-tae’s sleeping face, and a reflexive sigh of relief escaped.

To be honest, the reason I felt less repulsed by the “19+” aspect of all this was because my partners were Seo Jun-jae and Yeo Hyun-tae.

In other words, they were “good enough to eat,” so I was at least willing to try.

And yet it was still hard to accept.

So “even in the real world”… when I thought about it, it was preposterous.

Ever since learning the true nature of this crazy perverted psycho game, I’d been repeating these useless thoughts.

They only complicated my mind, without changing anything.

…God, I’m so pathetic.

Finally, I sighed softly and looked down at Hyun-tae sleeping beside me.

Shaking my head as if to clear the thoughts that threatened to resurface, I slowly lay down on the bed.

Trying my best not to be aware of his presence right next to me, I closed my eyes.

Only after a long while did my consciousness begin to settle.

***

How much time passed?

I woke to a tickling sensation on my face.

Fighting off the drowsiness, I forced my eyes open and met Hyun-tae’s gaze looking down at me.

“Did you sleep well?”

His whisper-like question came in an even deeper voice than usual.

I blinked a few times, still hazy, then slowly nodded.

The situation of waking up to find Hyun-tae right there was awkward and embarrassing, so I avoided his eyes and sat up.

“Uh, you?”

“Me too.

I slept well because of you, Jae-seo.”

I couldn’t think of a proper reply, so I just muttered, “I see,” and turned my head to the side.

Then Hyun-tae let out a small snort of laughter and reached his arm toward me.

His large hand suddenly landed on the back of my head, smoothing down my hair gently.

Following his touch, I raised my own hand, and only then understood why he had laughed.

The back of my hair, tangled from having slept on it half-dry, was a mess.

“There.”

He lightly brushed the sides as well, then withdrew his hand. He could have just told me, I thought, but still, I felt I should thank him, so I looked up.

The moment my eyes met his,

“Uh…”

I lost my words.

Somehow, I had a bad feeling that the favorability event had either already started or was about to.

“Did I surprise you by showing up so suddenly yesterday?”

At his question, breaking the brief silence, I couldn’t answer; my lips just twitched.

Because I thought I knew the reason too well.

Hyun-tae’s visit itself was probably the start of this “event.”

“I was worried you might be struggling alone.”

As he said that, his gaze shifted behind me.

I reflexively looked back and saw the crushed beer cans scattered across my desk.

“Ah… I really wasn’t drinking because of that.”

Even I could see how the situation and the scene might be interpreted as me drinking because I was upset about the rumor.

I immediately blurted out a half‑excuse, and Hyun-tae smiled, saying he was glad to hear it.

“And the other reason…”

He trailed off, as if hesitating.

The smile on his face had vanished without a trace.

The moment I saw his utterly serious expression, a premonition flashed through my mind: what was coming had finally come.

“Jae-seo.”

Still, you never know—maybe it was nothing.

Please, please let it be nothing.

“Did something… happen with Jun-jae?”

…Something?

At the sound of Jun-jae’s name coming from Hyun-tae’s mouth, I fell silent.

The question itself—“Did something happen with Seo Jun-jae?”—could be interpreted in many ways.

But coming from Yeo Hyun-tae, someone with over 50% favorability toward me and quick on the uptake, the meaning felt painfully clear.

Hyun-tae, who harbored such strong feelings for me, was suddenly asking if something had happened with Jun-jae.

Only three days after that incident.

I wished it weren’t so, but I felt it had to be.

“…Are the two of you dating?”

At his quiet follow-up, I finally squeezed my eyes shut.

How did he find out? Jun-jae hadn’t been any different from usual… Had I been acting strange enough for it to show?

Anxiety piled on anxiety, and I bit my lip.

Immediately, Hyun-tae’s hand touched it.

His long fingers gently stroked my lower lip, stopping me from biting.

“Don’t worry.

Probably only I know.”

How much, and how far, had he perceived?

Swallowing the questions I couldn’t bring myself to ask, I just moved my lips silently.

Watching me, Hyun-tae called my name, “Jae-seo.”

“If you’re not dating Jun-jae…”

He paused, then slowly reached out.

With a touch that felt quite earnest, he took my wrist.

“Could you give me a chance too?”

…This is insane.