“Ugh.”

When he let out a low groan at the pain that felt like his bones were being crushed, the hand gripping his shoulder loosened.

“It’ll hurt much more than this if you do that then.”

A cool voice brushed his earlobe. Had he noticed something? Maybe he thought something was off seeing him subtly putting his affairs in order.

“…What do you mean?”

It felt like his ankle would be cut off immediately if he announced their breakup. His worries about how to cause less pain seemed pointless now.

“I told you before, didn’t I?”

Choi Gang-hu smiled as he smoothed out the wrinkled clothes from his rough grip. The bright moonlight eerily illuminated his handsome face.

“That I have no intention of ever letting you go.”

His hand, cold as a cold-blooded animal, traveled up along his shoulder line to his neck. The large palm gripped both his trapezius and nape at once.

“You can do whatever you want.”

His hand movements, lightly kneading as if giving a massage, were imbued with thick possessiveness. Goosebumps rose at the cool temperature transmitted even to his fine hairs.

“By my side.”

Choi Gang-hu slowly lowered his head and pressed his lips to the soft skin below Ryu Seo-ha’s ear. Unlike his hands, his lips carried warmth hot enough to burn as they traced down the white neck line exposed under the chilly moonlight. 

From where the smooth jawline ended, very slowly, persistently slow. It felt like being thrown naked onto a ferocious snake’s dinner table. He couldn’t move, as if frozen.

“Hnngh.”

Only after thoroughly marking the defenseless neck line as he pleased, to his satisfaction, did his lips finally detach with a “chu” sound after deeply sucking one spot. A reddish lip mark remained there.

“Good boy.”

Choi Gang-hu praised him for obediently accepting him. Smiling languidly like a satiated beast. The touch arranging his disheveled hair was still gentle.

“They say another type of flower garden has been prepared.”

Choi Gang-hu, after checking a text message as if nothing had happened, conveyed the content with curved eyes.

“Forsythia, azalea, canola flowers. Which should we go see first?”

His face smiling as if just finding Ryu Seo-ha’s fluttering eyelashes lovely, even while looking at them, felt a bit unfamiliar.

“…Home…”

“Hm?”

“Let’s go home.”

Seeming pleased with the answer he barely managed, Choi Gang-hu smiled brightly and held out his hand as always. It meant to take it as he would cast [Spatial Jump].

“…”

The hesitation that had disappeared like clothes getting wet in drizzle peeked its head out again. Nothing had changed from before. Choi Gang-hu was always consistent, just a little more blatant today than other days.

But why was a warning sound ringing in his head that something was going wrong? Because he didn’t have much life left? Worrying about his sister who would be left with an angry lover? For whatever reason, the back of his neck felt chilly for no reason.

“Hurry.”

Unable to resist the urging, he overlapped his hand, and felt another arm wrap around his waist, pulling with subtle strength. It was a familiar sensation.

The concern that he might have become too naturally tamed rose again briefly, but with a slight dizziness, the scenery before his eyes changed completely.

It was Choi Gang-hu’s house, the master bedroom. The pitch black room once again sent a danger signal to his retina. Though it was the scenery he had been seeing for days, it felt newly strange.

“Let’s wash up and sleep.”

Choi Gang-hu whispered in a tone like a kidnapper luring an innocent child as he held out silk pajamas. Today it was white. Yesterday was blue, the day before wine red. The color changed every day.

“Already?”

He needed some personal time to carry out what he had half-impulsively decided just now. If he couldn’t announce their breakup, there was only one option left.

“Why? Want to play more before sleeping?”

The gentle tone as if soothing a whining child made the fine hairs on his ears stand on end. Ryu Seo-ha unconsciously raised his palm to rub the back of his neck that had just been licked. He shook his head and quickly headed to the bathroom. Showering and changing into the prepared clothes, entrusting his wet hair to his hands – it was all part of the routine repeated for days.

“When do you sleep, Choi Gang-hu?”

One difference was that he asked a question instead of lying down in bed right away. Choi Gang-hu tilted his head crookedly as if asking what he meant.

It was a question asked because he knew from the original work that he couldn’t fall asleep lying down. Because he had been lying down every day embracing Ryu Seo-ha like a chicken incubating eggs.

“I want to see it too.”

“See what?”

“Your sleeping face.”

His expression, full of composure, became strange.

“Didn’t you say you knew about my sleeping habits?”

“That’s why.”

Ryu Seo-ha tilted his head sideways while caressing the back of Choi Gang-hu’s hand, who was narrowing his eyes. He could see a light of agitation in the sculpture-like face just a hand span away.

Indeed. He becomes most vulnerable when Ryu Seo-ha shows initiative, or shows weakness. The red warning sound ringing in his head subsided somewhat.

“You haven’t slept at all these past few days, have you?”

When he asked with feigned concern, the man who could go a month without sleep without batting an eye chuckled.

“Who’s worrying about whom?”

Perhaps because he had been watching Ryu Seo-ha suffering from terrible nightmares every single day without fail. There was carefulness in the way he lightly flicked Ryu Seo-ha’s straight nose with his fingertip.

“I’ll watch over you today.”

“Watch what?”

“You falling soundly asleep.”

“Ha.”

When he whispered with gently curved eyes, the corners of Choi Gang-hu’s well-shaped mouth twisted slightly.

“What scheme is this now?”

Even as he said that, he got up as if willing to be deceived. Leaning against the black-painted wall by the bedside, he looked like a model shooting a clothing commercial.

The perfect proportioned subject was clearly etched on his retina like a vivid photograph. He wanted to cherish for a long time the image of him standing crookedly with his arms crossed, as if revealing his personality.

“Should I give you armor?”

After staring blankly for a while, he asked while pulling out a pair of basic defensive gear from his space expansion pouch. It was a size-adjustable item he had prepared as a spare in case it was needed.

“No. I don’t need it anymore.”

Choi Gang-hu, who seemed a bit surprised that he even knew the specific items needed for his sleep, expressed his refusal with a languid smile.

“I just need Ryu Seo-ha.”

The returnee who rejected the symbol of safety guarantee that had guarded his hundreds of nights in the Abyss pointed to the bed with a short nod.

“Lie down. With your face towards me.”

After putting the armor back and obediently following his order, a satisfied smile caught his eye like praise.

“Isn’t this too close?”

When he pointed out the distance between him leaning against the wall and himself lying on the bed, he couldn’t easily take his eyes off even the sight of him slightly raising his eyebrows. He would miss him a lot.

“If I toss and turn even a little, you’ll wake up right away.”

Choi Gang-hu’s sensory stats were beyond what an ordinary person could imagine. He reacts immediately to even the slightest movement. Especially during sleep when he’s most sensitive.

“Don’t worry. I won’t attack blindly.”

On what basis could he assert that so confidently? In the original work, there were several scenes where he attacked people who approached within the safe distance during sleep.

“I can tell by smell even with my eyes closed.”

When he just blinked at the incomprehensible answer, Choi Gang-hu reached out while bending his waist and stroked his head.

“I mean I can always distinguish that it’s Ryu Seo-ha.”

Choi Gang-hu straightened his waist again and leaned against the wall, smiling gently. It was a smile that seemed to emit light even in the darkness with the lights off.

“…Good night.”

“Yeah, sleep well.”

Choi Gang-hu, who answered languidly to the faintly offered greeting, closed his eyes. His breathing, which he kept even his sleep cycle under control, became as faint as if it had stopped.

He had fallen asleep as soon as he closed his eyes. Like a snake in winter hibernation, his motionless figure truly looked like a standing statue.

‘I’m sorry.’

He recited in his heart the apology he couldn’t bring himself to say out loud. The things he shouldn’t have done to him kept coming to mind, tormenting and hurting him.

Ryu Seo-ha placed his hand on the item hidden under the blanket while looking at his sleeping face. It was the spatial movement scroll he had secretly hidden while taking out the basic defensive gear earlier.

He didn’t want to show his dying form to his loved ones. Above all, if he revealed the truth, they would have to struggle with grief and pain one by one.

He wanted to spend his last day quietly. Without considering anyone, as selfishly as possible. After taking in his beloved to the fullest with his eyes, he tore the scroll.

❖ ❖ ❖

As soon as he detected the small noise disturbing his nerves and the movement of magic, the light of consciousness turned on. His superhuman senses caught the use of a spatial item.

Choi Gang-hu opened his eyes wide and first brought the surrounding magic under his control. Then, as he was about to freeze the magic surrounding the person who tore the scroll,

“…!”

He unknowingly stopped his action. The scent. A pretty scent like warm golden sunlight, or mysterious blue dawn light, stopped his movement.

If he forcibly stopped the magic, the recoil would cause serious injury to either the person included in the affected area or the interferer. The bed quickly emptied.

His cool eyes quickly read the traces of spatial coordinates. And without delay, he followed with [Spatial Jump]. But Ryu Seo-ha wasn’t there. As if he had torn another scroll, flows of different magic swirled in the air in an overlapped state. It would take at least a few minutes to calculate the entangled traces.

“Ha.”

The faint body scent remaining in the air stimulated his sense of smell. Choi Gang-hu’s eyes sharpened like a beast before a hunt.