IH Ch 72

Chapter 72

“You don’t need to dirty your hands to punish people like that. So don’t go doing anything that might end up harming you.”

“……”

“You’re overly emotional at times. Even if you hide it well, I feel like it’ll show. And you’re already famous… if something happens to someone who doesn’t get along with you, you’ll probably be the first suspect.”

Dohwa removed his hand from Jae-i’s head and gently patted his back.

Calm down for now, it’s okay. It’s okay. His hand seemed to say exactly that, and the look on Hwang Jae-i’s face grew more and more complex. Seeing his expression as if he were truly confused, Dohwa opened his mouth.

“There are a lot of monsters in this world. People who are different inside than they appear on the outside—you could fill a truck with them. So when someone like you acts honestly, it ends up costing you more.”

“……”

“There’s no need to become a monster like them. The people who criticize you aren’t worth much, so fooling them is easy. Just pander to them a little and pretend to get along—they’ll eat it up. Remember before? All you did was smile and everything was resolved.”

“……”

“You have to get people on your side. That way, you’ll have something to use when you need it.”

If he rushed to take revenge and killed someone, it would only be a loss for Hwang Jae-i. Even if he took care of people who truly deserved to die, the public would only focus on one thing—Hwang Jae-i killed someone.

Dohwa wasn’t sure if Jae-i understood what he had just said. The point was to create a situation where, even if he sought revenge, it would be okay because he was Hwang Jae-i. But how could he explain that and convince him?

Resting his chin on his hand, Dohwa wore a serious expression unlike any Jae-i had ever seen. Watching him so lost in thought, Jae-i opened his mouth after several moments of hesitation.

“Why go through all that trouble?”

At that, Dohwa looked up at Jae-i with wide eyes.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just end it all at once?”

“If you do that, you’re the one who’ll get hurt, Jae-i.”

“……”

His voice, calling him “Jae-i,” was gentle. So gentle, in fact, that it gave Jae-i chills—as if someone were coaxing a disobedient child. He clenched the hand he had lowered, and with a stiff neck, looked at Dohwa. As if waiting, Dohwa whispered,

“It’s your choice in the end, but I just hope you can take the easier path and face less blame.”

Faced with that steady gaze, Jae-i tightened his grip on his hand.

“……”

It felt strange. Jae-i was unfamiliar with this kind of emotion—it was something he had never experienced before, and it made him seal his lips tightly.

Every word Dohwa spoke was for his sake. Because he wanted Jae-i to be criticized less, even just a little.

Plenty of people had said similar things in the past. The problem was that Hwang Jae-i had never listened. But something about Dohwa’s words felt okay to accept. Wondering why he felt this shift, Jae-i frowned slightly. And just then, Dohwa, who had been staring at the wrinkle between his brows, let out a deep sigh.

Until now, sighing had always been Jae-i’s job. So why was Dohwa sighing now? Just as he began to wonder, Dohwa spoke with a deadpan face.

“I talked too much. Now I’m tired.”

“……”

After giving Jae-i’s back a pat, Dohwa stood up right away.

“Let’s put the cake back in the fridge. It’d be a waste to eat it now.”

“……Just.”

Jae-i was about to say that if Dohwa wanted to eat it, he should eat it now—but when he saw Dohwa’s eyes on him, he closed his mouth. Taking his silence as agreement, Dohwa headed to his room. A moment later, he came back out with his arms full of desserts. Seeing him walk so carefully to keep them from falling, Jae-i hesitated, then awkwardly stood up and followed.

Entering Dohwa’s room, Jae-i reached for a macaron sitting on the sheets—but stopped.

“……”

A faint trace of Dohwa’s scent lingered in the messy bedding.

Good thing he snapped out of it—what the hell had he been thinking, doing something like this? What kind of person was he, visiting Dohwa night after night?

He’d been so fixated on going to Dohwa that he never paused to think. What kind of person was his nighttime self, to do something like this? Thankfully, he hadn’t harmed Dohwa—but what if he had…?

As Jae-i’s face grew increasingly grim, a poke to his side made him flinch and turn around. Behind him stood Dohwa. His eyes were half-lidded in fatigue, but when he looked up, his pupils were perfectly round and jet black. Caught in the glow of the room’s light, they gleamed, and in that instant, Hwang Jae-i felt as though something sharp had pierced the center of his chest.

“……”

When Jae-i just stood there, unmoving, Dohwa tilted his head.

“What?”

“……Nothing.”

Shaking his head, Jae-i took a step back.

Dohwa looked at him curiously, then carefully gathered up the remaining desserts by the bed. Even a single piece of cake filled up his small hand, and he handled them so delicately, afraid they might fall. Watching that, Jae-i murmured,

“……You should tell me your story, too.”

As Dohwa stood upright with a macaron in hand, he asked, “My story?”

“It’s weird if I’m the only one talking about myself. Tell me your story too.”

Where had he been? What had he been doing all this time? Surely he hadn’t been trapped in that cramped space his whole life… Jae-i was about to ask all that when Dohwa turned away and mumbled,

“……I’ve seen you.”

“……”

“I watched videos of you.”

That should have made Jae-i feel uncomfortable. But what he actually felt was curiosity.

Videos of him? What kind? Most footage of him out in the world featured him frowning or furious. Could he really have watched that stuff? Jae-i asked again.

“What videos?”

“Anything. Everything.”

“What are you even…”

“I’m going to sleep.”

Dohwa pulled Jae-i’s hand over and placed the cakes and macarons on it. Then he gently pressed his palm against Jae-i’s stomach. At the touch, Jae-i stepped back in surprise and found himself standing outside the room.

“If you come back again, I won’t open the door next time.”

“……”

Hwang Jae-i could only stand there and watch as the door shut in front of him.

Dohwa’s words still lingered in his mind. Videos about me—depending on how you took that, it was an incredibly strange thing to say. He wanted to ask what that meant, to come out and explain himself properly, but his hand stopped just short of knocking. Looking down at the macarons awkwardly sitting in his hand, Jae-i grit his teeth. His face was stiff as if he were angry, but the tips of his ears were burning red.

The moment he shut the door on Jae-i, Dohwa turned off the lights and sat on the edge of the bed.

He wondered if he shouldn’t have said he’d watched videos of Hwang Jae-i. But Jae-i had seemed unusually curious about him lately. He figured he’d have to explain eventually.

Still, why was Jae-i so curious about him? Dohwa didn’t want to lie, so he planned to answer whatever he was asked—but what if Jae-i lost interest in him after hearing the truth?

Would there even be any interest to lose?

“……”

That thought made Dohwa a little glum as he slowly crawled into bed. Even with the fluffy blanket pulled over his head, his mind was too alert for him to fall asleep.

Come to think of it, it didn’t make any sense for Hwang Jae-i to like him. How could someone like him—shady, mysterious—be liked? But even so—

“……I hope he likes me. Even just a little.”

Mumbling softly, Dohwa let out a long, heavy sigh.

Jae-i wasn’t asleep either. He spent the night wide awake.

It wasn’t as if he regularly got good sleep at night anyway, so going two nights without rest wasn’t a big deal. The problem was that he kept replaying everything Dohwa had said—and his face—over and over again.

As soon as he realized what he was doing, he tried to erase it from his mind, wondering what the hell he was thinking. But it wasn’t easy. The more he tried to forget, the clearer Dohwa’s eyes, nose, and lips became. His mind kept going back to those plump, soft-looking lips, until finally he ran out of the house in a panic.

He swam. He ran. He pushed his body to its limits, then went to the sauna. By dawn, he was sprawled on the living room sofa.

As he sat there, zoning out, a call came in from the guild.

Normally, he would’ve been annoyed and snapped, What is it now?, but this time he answered at the first ring like he’d been waiting for it. Even Ahn Yuna, who was on the other end, was taken aback and asked if something had happened. Ignoring her reaction, Jae-i told her to just state her business. Ahn Yuna hesitated but calmly continued.

She said the situation in the village was being cleaned up, and they were digging into Chairman Jang. He had definitely been backing the thugs, and the group who had received the money had been harassing the villagers. She said they planned to let those parties turn on each other as much as possible—if it escalated, they’d file an official report and deal with it accordingly.

[Also, it seems like Pungjin is involved. Their second son runs a resort business, right? Something smells fishy. With all the other scandals breaking right now, this one might get buried—but I think it’s better to wrap it up properly with the villagers’ cooperation. They said they’re more than willing to help.]

“……”

[Oh, and we made the reporter sign a non-disclosure agreement before releasing them. But the beast—well, that one’s tricky. It clearly seems like it was released on purpose to target the Guildmaster. It’s hard to explain that publicly…]

Privately possessing a magical beast was illegal. If someone got hurt, even if the beast had been deliberately released, the blame would fall on whoever was attacked. But the real issue was Hwang Jae-i. If this went public, everything he had done in the village would come to light. And if his opponents decided to latch on to this moment, there was a high chance it would all be swept under the rug.