Ryu Seo-ha, who had been staring at the beautiful sea scenery as his lover instructed, slowly turned his head. A face that captivated his gaze several times more strongly than the impressive natural landscape dazzled his eyes.

“Why are you angry?”

He carefully retraced the previous situation in his mind. If Choi Gang-hu’s feelings were tangled up because of him, he wanted to step in and untangle them right away. In any way, by doing anything.

“Doesn’t Ryu Seo-ha mind at all?”

Choi Gang-hu’s brow furrowed slightly as he asked without a clear subject.

“How can you feel like talking to those who did such things to you?”

At the voice tinged with subtle irritation, Ryu Seo-ha blinked quietly. It seemed that his attempt to engage in conversation with them, even to the point of changing locations, had grated on Choi Gang-hu’s nerves.

Of course, Ryu Seo-ha also didn’t want to associate with the one who helped kidnap him, the one who made him stay trapped in the quarantine zone, and the one who calculatingly tried to win his favor. But what could he do?

“We need to assess the situation, don’t we?”

“What situation?”

“Jung Woo-bin, Choi Junwan, and Go Young-hoon were all targeting you, weren’t they?”

There was no need to elaborate on Choi Junwan, and Jung Woo-bin had bought over 5% of Gangseong Trading shares, gaining a kind of casting vote. Go Young-hoon had also suddenly emerged as an important figure related to business.

Though they may have different goals now, the possibility that they might suddenly join forces and attack couldn’t be ruled out. Moreover, it was presumed that the Cult was behind Go Young-hoon. So they needed to probe their intentions in advance.

“Do you think the cards they hold pose a threat to me?”

Choi Gang-hu, letting out a low sigh, quietly asked back. It was difficult to answer readily. It was true that due to his actions diverging greatly from the original work, he had been absent for a long time during an important period.

Above all, his stay abroad had been too long. For Ryu Seo-ha, it was a situation where he couldn’t help but feel responsible. While he could easily handle Choi Junwan alone, it was a different story if the Cult was involved.

“I didn’t know you saw me as so incompetent…”

Though narrowing his eyes as if disappointed, a smile bloomed on Choi Gang-hu’s lips. He seemed satisfied just by the fact that Ryu Seo-ha was worried about him.

“We should consider the worst-case scenario, right?”

“Is that necessary?”

Choi Gang-hu asked back as if he couldn’t understand, gently pressing Ryu Seo-ha’s shoulder to make him sit on the white sand.

“Didn’t you want to reclaim the Gangseong Group somehow?”

Ryu Seo-ha, glancing down at the silk hem spread under his buttocks, tilted his head and retorted. If Choi Gang-hu’s primary goal in the original work was revenge against the higher beings, his next goal was to seize control of the Gangseong Group.

“That mere company, I don’t care if I don’t have it.”

Therefore, Choi Gang-hu’s nonchalant reply couldn’t help but come as a slight shock.

“Ryu Seo-ha’s safety is far more important to me.”

Choi Gang-hu, who had swiftly removed Ryu Seo-ha’s shoes and socks as he stared with his mouth half-open, wrapped his magic power around Ryu Seo-ha’s ankles.

“So there’s no need to endure disgust and mingle words with those guys.”

Choi Gang-hu murmured softly, as if soothing an anxious child, and gently raised him by holding his hand. Ryu Seo-ha blinked slowly at the unfamiliar sensation of fine sand particles touching his bare feet.

“Ryu Seo-ha just needs to eat well, sleep well, and play well by my side.”

“No…”

“Don’t even think about troublesome and dangerous things.”

Choi Gang-hu started walking one step ahead without letting go of the hand he was holding. The moment of walking barefoot, stepping again on the large footprints, gave a strange sense of relief.

Not a single piece of glass touched the soles of his feet, and the sides of his feet were greeted by waves that almost touched them, giving a cool sensation. It was a peaceful moment.

“Haven’t you already endured enough until now?”

That was true. Throughout his past life, he had lived weighing things carefully and taking small risks to avoid big crises, to the point of exhaustion. Everything was something he had to pioneer and bear alone.

He thought that was natural. He never imagined he would sweetly accept the helping hand extended by someone like this. Now, even the wariness he used to feel whenever he became aware of this fact had crumbled.

Until now, he had been busy finding ways to survive. Now that he knew Choi Gang-hu was the key to that solution, it wasn’t strange to actively step forward to help him. Even from a calculated perspective.

“I…”

Ryu Seo-ha, who had stopped by putting strength in his toes, gently pulled the hand of his lover walking ahead and met his eyes.

“I want to do what I can.”

He knew. The reason Choi Gang-hu brought him to business-related scenes was just because he didn’t want to leave him far away, not because he wanted to demand that he accomplish something. Still,

“I want to be of at least some help to you.”

He didn’t want to spend time just enjoying being cared for like a doll neatly displayed in a showcase. This was a matter of attitude towards life, as firm as Choi Gang-hu’s goal-oriented nature.

“Even if I dislike it?”

Choi Gang-hu, turning to face him, asked back with a somewhat subdued expression. It was a complexion that matched well with the sound of waves rushing in with a “shaa”.

“Your very existence is already the biggest help to me, more than anything else.”

His voice, murmuring as if there was no need to do other things, as if telling him not to actively try to handle matters in everything, resonated lower than usual.

“Now, I can’t live without this body by my side.”

“What…”

The large hand confessed as it languidly stroked Ryu Seo-ha’s shoulder. Though it seemed romantic at a glance, Ryu Seo-ha’s long eyelashes trembled finely. It was because he instinctively felt that this wasn’t a simple love confession.

“I often feel terrible headaches after returning, but they subside completely. When I touch Ryu Seo-ha.”

As expected, these words fell like a bolt from the blue.

❖ ❖ ❖

“Piyuu?”

The baby bird tilted its head. Its appearance of flapping its small wings while circling around the sofa was very cute, but Ryu Seo-ha, sitting blankly lost in thought, had no energy to pay attention to it.

“Why, what now?”

Unable to bear it any longer, Ryu Jeong-ah abruptly approached and plopped down in the seat next to him, asking as if demanding an explanation.

“Huh…?”

“What do you mean ‘huh’. Did you fight with the Guild Leader?”

Ryu Seo-ha shook his head slightly at his older sister’s words as she put down the snacks she had been eagerly eating on the table with a thud.

“No. There’s nothing to fight about.”

“Then what is it? What’s bothering you that you keep suffering alone?”

When he just smiled faintly despite the gaze urging for an answer, Ryu Jeong-ah glared at him fiercely.

“If you keep not talking, I’ll go next door and ask directly?”

At these words with a subtle threat, Ryu Seo-ha let out a light sigh.

“Don’t do that. He’s already busy enough as it is.”

“Ah, if you don’t want me bothering your lover, just talk quickly.”

He knows well that this is how his older sister expresses her worry. But since she has a personality that can fully act on her words, he couldn’t just let it slide.

“…Actually, I’m not sure myself.”

After hesitating for a while, he carefully opened his lips. Imagining that the Choi Gang-hu of the original work had lived his whole life in pain made him dizzy, and it was also puzzling that he felt more comfortable the closer he was to Ryu Seo-ha. And…

“What are you not sure about?”

“Why I’m having these thoughts…”

“What thoughts?”

Even though he didn’t open up completely as requested, Ryu Jeong-ah patiently asked one by one, being a good listener.

“When I confessed the reason why I need him, I wonder if he felt this emotion too…”

“What emotion did you feel?”

Although it might be frustrating to hear such roundabout expressions, Ryu Jeong-ah continued to lead the conversation naturally.

“Disappointment…? No, I’m not sure.”

Maybe it was thanks to such reactions that he could calmly lay out his complex feelings.

“Why would he have felt disappointed?”

At his older sister’s continued questioning, Ryu Seo-ha avoided answering with a bitter smile. He thinks he’s being foolish himself. However, unlike his thoughts, his heart couldn’t immediately shake off these foolish emotions.

He had guessed from the beginning that Choi Gang-hu might have had other purposes in approaching him. He didn’t know that the description of headaches, which he thought was just a MacGuffin, would be the cause. Yet his heart was filled with melancholy.

It’s not that he’s doubting Choi Gang-hu’s sincerity now. Nor is he anxiously worrying about being abandoned if the necessity of being a painkiller disappears. He just wondered if Choi Gang-hu felt this way when he learned about the lifespan issue.

“It’s true that our relationship was formed out of necessity, but that’s not all there is to it.”

There was a time when he thought it was enough to cleanly use each other as much as they needed. But now it’s different. Even the fact that some special use value existed between them felt uncomfortable.

“Why is that important?”

Ryu Jeong-ah furrowed her brow as if she didn’t understand.

“Whether you met because you needed something or not, if you love, don’t you end up needing that person anyway?”

It was a tone that seemed to treat it as insignificant, almost to the point of being blunt.

“If you love… you become necessary?”

“Yes. What’s the big deal if the order is a bit reversed? As long as you both like each other, that’s all that matters.”

It was all correct, so there was nothing to say in response.

“Anyway, your problem is that you think too much.”

Clicking her tongue, Ryu Jeong-ah picked up the snack bag again.

“That’s one of this child’s charms.”

Choi Gang-hu, who had appeared without notice, reached out from behind the sofa and embraced Ryu Seo-ha. His grinning expression caused embarrassment.