Embracing him with bravado was one thing. It was another that Sayoung hadn’t pushed him away as Uijae had expected. However, both Sayoung and Uijae’s bodies had stiffened significantly, as if two sturdy logs were pressed together.

Sayoung’s body felt colder than usual, almost like that of a dead person. A chill ran down Uijae’s neck. He bit his lip, feeling his mouth go dry with sudden anxiety.

‘...No, Sayoung is alive.’

Uijae unconsciously tightened his grip around Sayoung and focused on the pulse beating at the back of his neck. Thump, thump, thump… He closed his eyes, feeling the rapid heartbeat.

With each pat and stroke on Sayoung’s back, he felt the tightly woven muscles flinch beneath his touch and heard his low breaths intermittently. The sweet scent lingered around him, and Uijae noticed the pale skin, warm in the spots where their body heat met. A testament to life.

Just as Uijae leaned in to listen to the rhythmic sound a bit more,

*Puh!*

A strong force shoved at his right shoulder. Uijae, pushed back, opened his eyes wide. Sayoung remained in the same position, his hand outstretched. The black fingertips were slightly curled.

Their eyes locked across the space that had just been created. Sayoung's purple eyes were slightly widened. Uijae, seeing the other’s surprise, rolled his eyes.

‘Have I been holding on for too long?’

The shoulder that had been pushed felt tender. He had a body that wouldn’t typically get hurt from mere attacks, so this level of pain was rare for him. Uijae rubbed his shoulder with his palm. Sayoung’s gaze followed every one of his movements intensely.

If it hadn’t been Uijae who got pushed, the other person would have flown into the stacks like a discarded item. Sayoung’s shoulder blade might have shattered. Should he advise him to be careful with his strength when pushing someone? Or should he pretend to be in more pain? But given Sayoung’s strange aura, he couldn’t do anything at all.

He seemed… anxious.

“…….”

Sayoung stood still, having pushed Uijae away, staring at him silently. It was unclear whether his last resort had worked or not.

However, right now, instead of trying to teach Sayoung a lesson, it was more important to soothe him. Well, at least not being thrown into the pile was a small victory. Uijae, having made that judgment with a positive conclusion, casually brushed off his shoulder.

“Feeling a bit better?”

Sayoung’s shoulders twitched slightly. After a moment, he clenched his fist and smirked with a fierce expression.

“Don’t you have a learning disability?”

He was trying to let things slide, and yet this guy was suddenly attacking his intelligence? Even with his relaxed smile, Uijae’s expression turned sour.

“Hey, why are we bringing up learning disabilities here?”

“Do you think it’s been years since you spat blood…?”

“Blood?”

As he frowned and replayed the words, Uijae suddenly exclaimed, “Ah.” Sayoung was likely referring to the time he had vomited blood during their last contract.

Thanks to the **Basilisk’s Poison** trait, he had developed resistance, so Sayoung’s poison wasn’t a concern for Uijae anymore. But more than that, what he was worried about was….

Sayoung continued to taunt him without closing the distance.

“What if you vomit blood here? What’s going to happen then?”

“…….”

“Are you planning to leave that cleanup to me?”

“…….”

“You haven’t taken the antidote….”

“No, Sayoung.”

Uijae accidentally called Sayoung's name, then quickly closed his mouth. No matter how much Sayoung knew Uijae was hiding his strength, revealing the existence of his antidote trait was a different matter entirely.

‘That’s suspicious as hell.’

An ability to instantly detoxify an S-class poison and gain immunity? Even if he was a Hunter hiding his abilities, wouldn’t that sound suspicious?

“…….”

A short silence followed. Sayoung stopped throwing jabs and stared at Uijae, lips pressed together.

Well, the person who had been given the antidote nearly died in front of him from being unable to endure the poison, so it was understandable that he was surprised. The precious **Gyeongroso** must have been wasted on him… It was enough to dwell on. Uijae shrugged.

“No… I’m really fine now. Your poison isn’t that dangerous anymore.”

Uijae spoke the truth, but it seemed to only make Sayoung more uncomfortable. Sayoung buried his hands in his pockets and muttered in a low voice.

“Ah, so a person like that vomits blood like that?”

“I’m telling you I’m fine now.”

“I'm not thinking about cleaning up after you here.”

Uijae wanted to refute further, but it seemed Sayoung wasn’t in the mood to listen. Instead, he silently grabbed the tickets that had been registered for both Uijae and himself.

As Sayoung tore the corners of the two tickets simultaneously, the surrounding scenery swirled chaotically and sank to the floor, replaced by a new landscape. Where there had been a pile of boxes, a long sofa and table appeared, and where a dusty dark alley wall had been, clean walls and bright lighting emerged.

In an instant, they found themselves in a spacious area resembling a waiting room. On the neatly plastered white wall, black letters appeared one by one.

---

**《Craftsmen Exhibition Participant Isolation Room Waiting Room》**

This waiting room was personally created by Hong Yesung.

Each waiting room can only be entered with a certified ticket.

Please wait in your waiting room until the Craftsmen Exhibition begins.

If you attempt to escape from the waiting room and cause problems, you may be penalized under the Awakened Special Law.

If a disturbance seems likely, please evacuate to your personal waiting room and contact the Awakened Management Bureau ^^.

---

‘What’s with the ‘isolation room’ marking?’ Just as Uijae eyed the letters on the wall and the interior of the waiting room that had suddenly appeared with suspicion, Sayoung, having examined the area familiar to him, pointed to the sofa.

“Sit down.”

“What is this place?”

“It says right here. A waiting room.”

Still looking confused, Uijae sat down while Sayoung added an explanation.

“Last time at the Craftsmen Exhibition, the building almost collapsed.”

“Why?”

“Because of some rude guy.”

A chat filled with warnings, like Jeongbin’s proverbial ‘great meal,’ flashed through his mind. Was all the precautionary advice really based on past experiences? What kind of battlefield had the last Craftsmen Exhibition been?

And what was Sayoung, who had brought him here under the pretense of a date while threatening him, really doing? Regardless of Uijae's confusion, Sayoung muttered nonchalantly.

“This time, they decided to isolate everyone… and they made a space like this. It’s not a hamster cage or anything.”

If what he said was true, last time they had put multiple super Hunter hamsters in one cage, and it almost caused the building to collapse, so this time they would enforce a one hamster per cage policy.

While not facing others was a good thing, being alone in here with the doughnut-like Sayoung wasn’t so appealing. Uijae sat on the sofa, maintaining a wary expression.

Sayoung, arms crossed, stared at Uijae.

“Shirt.”

“Uh?”

“It’d be better to take it off.”

It seemed he wanted to check the shoulder that had been pushed earlier. Although it throbbed occasionally, it should heal naturally with time. Uijae didn’t want to take off his clothes. He exaggeratedly rolled his shoulders to showcase that he was fine.

“It wasn’t that hard of a hit.”

Sayoung muttered ominously.

“It’d be best to take it off before I do it myself….”

Uijae inadvertently tightened his grip on his jacket.

“Hey, you didn’t take off your gas mask earlier either.”

“Is that the same thing?”

“What’s the difference? Why don’t you believe me when I say I’m fine?”

“Why would I believe you?”

Even while being sarcastic, Sayoung’s gaze remained fixed on Uijae’s shoulder. Uijae couldn’t help but blurt out without thinking.

“Are you worried about me right now?”

“…….”

With a firm step forward, Sayoung placed his black hand on the back of the sofa. He looked down at Uijae for a moment before finally answering.

“...I doubt it.”

“…….”

After a brief silence, Sayoung removed his hand from the back of the sofa and pulled out his phone. It seemed he received a message from someone, and after a few taps, he turned his body towards the door.

“Just take a breath there. Don’t think about going out and being seen by others.”

Creeeeak, bang. The door closed firmly. After staring at the door for a few minutes, there was no sign of it reopening.

Uijae let out a long sigh and sprawled out on the sofa. He realized he had been quite tense without realizing it; his whole body felt lethargic. Left alone in his own space, he gazed at the ceiling.

In the stillness, he didn’t feel anxious. Perhaps it was because he understood that there was no threat in this space. He was experiencing a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long time. A sense of stability.

Suddenly, a question he

 had never considered rose to the surface.

‘Why doesn’t Sayoung… seem curious about me?’

People often pried into his abilities, using the excuse that they wanted to utilize him better. They would ask him what he could do with his powers, where his limits were, and explore everything about him.

But Sayoung didn’t ask anything or try to use him effectively. He had probably figured out that they had a similar level of ability. Uijae turned on his side, resting his arm.

‘Isn’t it basic to understand your opponent’s capabilities before making a contract?’

It was standard procedure to ask about what skills they had and what traits they possessed, yet Sayoung seemed uninterested in that at all. He acted as if Uijae’s mere existence was all he needed.

Uijae opened his right hand and quietly gazed at his palm. A barely visible golden chain shimmered faintly. He tried intentionally clenching and unclenching his hand, but the golden chain continued to gleam from its spot. Once a thought began, it kept flowing.

‘Does he know that I’m J…?’

No, that couldn’t be it. If he did, he would have asked for something in exchange for keeping it a secret long ago. But Sayoung hadn’t asked anything; he merely set the condition that Uijae not betray him.

‘Then why?’

Since emerging from the Rift, Cha Uijae had wanted to live a perfect daily life. A quiet and peaceful one. A life lived faithfully in the day-to-day without connection to monsters or rifts. And that simple life had proven to be more challenging than expected, leaving him with no room to think about anything else for several months.

However, at some point, Sayoung had slipped into the gaps of his well-structured routine. As if he had taken up a corner of that quiet life, Uijae now realized he had been sharing that life with him.

Before he knew it, Cha Uijae’s daily life had become filled with Sayoung. He reflected on that fact for a while.

---

In the corner of the alley, where boxes had previously been stacked, a dark figure stood quietly. It had been two earlier, but now it was just one. Eyes that chased the dust floating in the air turned toward the wall.

“…I’m sorry, Hyung.”

The strong arms that had embraced him, the warmth that had touched him all over, the hands that had repeatedly patted his back, the quietly beating heart, and the soft hair that brushed against his neck.

It was in that moment that Sayoung gritted his teeth. A whisper, void of inflection, echoed through the alley.

“Guild Leader.”

A round head peeked out from behind the crossed arms of Lee Sayoung. It was the cheerful little miracle who had claimed to be overseas on a business trip. Of course, he had only pretended to leave, stepping onto the threshold of the plane and immediately infiltrating the Awakened Management Bureau.

Dressed in a smart suit, he stepped out of the shadow and stood upright, hands behind his back.

“Sorry for being a bit late; I had to wrap things up first.”

“Report.”

“Yes. First, please accept this.”

Sayoung took the tablet offered by the little miracle. As the screen lit up, large red letters greeted him.

---

**[J Tracking Report]**

---

Clearing his throat, the little miracle began to speak in front of Sayoung, who was intently examining the screen.

“Now, I will begin the report.”