After imprisoning Lee Yeonsu, Joo Seunghyuk watched him every single day. Sometimes, he’d come into the room while Yeonsu slept, just to look at his face. But this was the first time since the confinement that he’d actually met those gentle, light brown eyes head-on.

Joo Seunghyuk tried to pry Yeonsu’s hand off. But Yeonsu only gripped him tighter.

“It’s Joo Seunghyuk. It’s really Joo Seunghyuk!”

His voice dragged out like he was drunk.

“Let go.”

“No.”

Yeonsu shook his head furiously.

“I have something to tell you.”

“What are you going to say? Ask me to let you go? Say you want to leave? That it’s over between us?”

Joo Seunghyuk was offering him a chance. Even a lie would’ve been fine—if Yeonsu just said he hadn’t run away, he was willing to erase everything. Pretend it never happened. But Yeonsu refused him again and again.

Joo Seunghyuk was afraid. Afraid of what Yeonsu might say. Of the words that might follow that confession—that he’d tried to run away.

“I missed you!”

But what came out of Yeonsu’s mouth was completely unexpected.

“...What?”

Joo Seunghyuk stared at him, doubting his own ears. But Yeonsu frowned and burst out in protest.

“You’re awful. You’re such a bastard!”

“What’s awful?”

“I didn’t even get mad when you said you were getting married...”

Yeonsu pouted like he’d been wronged. He was clearly drunk, and yet Joo Seunghyuk was still speechless.

“When did I say I was marrying her? I told you I was marrying you! I said you were the only one!”

“But I don’t have any money.”

Yeonsu mumbled, looking completely defeated.

“Who said I wanted your money?”

“And I’m a guy, and I’m a Beta.”

“So what? I’ve known you were a Beta since seven years ago! I don’t care what your designation is!”

Before he realized it, his voice had risen.

Normally, when Joo Seunghyuk raised his voice, Yeonsu would shrink back like a prey animal facing a predator. But right now, maybe because of the alcohol, he glared right back at him.

“Liar! You’re going to end up with an Omega anyway! You’re going to throw me away eventually! You bastard!”

“Why would I throw you away?”

“Everyone hates Lee Yeonsu. You’re going to hate me too.”

To him, he was nothing but the hated villain. Thinking about the original story only made that feeling of injustice swell even more.

“I don’t hate you.”

“Liar! You’re going to go off with someone else next semester!”

“I won’t.”

“Liar! When second semester comes, you’re gonna date Kim Jun!”

“...Why the hell is his name coming up?”

Joo Seunghyuk’s brow twitched in disbelief.

Kim Jun? That F-rank kid? Why the hell was he suddenly being mentioned? The words were so random it left him dumbfounded more than angry.

But no matter what he said, Yeonsu was completely serious.

“That’s how it’s supposed to go...”

He murmured, recalling the plot of the original story. But to Joo Seunghyuk, who had no idea what he was talking about, it was sheer nonsense.

“What’s supposed to go that way?”

He figured it was drunken nonsense, but asked anyway. Yeonsu’s face turned even gloomier.

“That you’ll stop liking me.”

“You really think I’d change?”

“You do change. You already have.”

“I changed?”

Yeonsu nodded fiercely and glared at him.

“You did change. You locked me up and stopped coming to see me. You forgot all about me! You cold-hearted bastard.”

“...I saw you every day.”

Joo Seunghyuk stroked his face. Seeing that sulky, pouting expression, he suddenly felt sure—Yeonsu wasn’t about to say something terrifying.

But Yeonsu’s expression still didn’t soften.

“Liar! When did you see me! I pretended to sleep every single day, hoping you’d come, and you never did!”

“...You were waiting for me?”

“Yeah. I missed you.”

“...You did?”

His tension eased, and Joo Seunghyuk pulled Yeonsu gently into his arms. But Yeonsu wrinkled his face and pushed him away. That, too, was something he never would’ve done if he weren’t drunk.

“Liar!”

“I really did see you. Every day. Not once did I skip a day. If I hadn’t... I would’ve gone insane.”

He confessed calmly. But Yeonsu’s lips only jutted out even more.

“You’re not even a virgin! I know how promiscuous you are! You’ve slept with dozens of Guides!”

“Me?”

“I know everything. From the beginning, you only wanted me for my body! And now you’re tired of that, too!”

“...You think all I want is your body?”

“Then why won’t you touch me?! Why don’t you hold me?! You bastard! You’re already sick of my body!”

Hearing Yeonsu angrily spit all this out, Joo Seunghyuk was speechless.

“Maybe I should just eat you up right now.”

He said in a low voice, and Yeonsu jumped in fright.

“No! I—I don’t even taste good!”

“You don’t?”

“No! Don’t eat me. Seunghyuk, I’m sorry. Please don’t eat me. Please don’t...”

Yeonsu trembled like a rabbit cornered in a tiger’s den. Joo Seunghyuk couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.

“...What am I supposed to do with you?”

But unlike Seunghyuk, who was chuckling now, Yeonsu’s expression was deadly serious. After thinking it over, he suddenly shouted with determination:

“Then just hit me instead!”

“What?”

“Tie me up and hit me! Or XXXX and XXXX! Do whatever you want! If that’s what you want, I don’t care!”

Yeonsu rattled off all the intense, explicit things Joo Seunghyuk had done to Kim Jun in the Guide’s Swamp storyline.

The way those harsh, explicit acts tumbled out of Yeonsu’s innocent mouth left Seunghyuk utterly stunned.

“...Do you even know what you’re saying right now?”

“I know. You can do whatever you want to me—just don’t leave me alone.”

Tears dripped from Yeonsu’s eyes.

Joo Seunghyuk pulled him into his arms and wiped his cheek with his thumb.

“Don’t cry. I get scared when you cry.”

“You get scared...?”

Yeonsu blinked his big eyes, and Seunghyuk replied in a quiet tone.

“Yeah. When you cry... I feel like you’re going to leave me again.”

“I ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) won’t leave.”

“You say that, but you did try to run away.”

“...Sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry. Say it’s not true.”

“It’s not true.”

Yeonsu answered right away, just as Seunghyuk told him to.

“Then why’d you run?”

“......”

Yeonsu had just been following Seunghyuk’s lead, obedient in his drunken state. But when he was asked to explain why, his pupils shook violently.

“Uh, um... So, like...”

He clearly started scrambling to come up with an excuse—and then suddenly exclaimed:

“Oh! It was airplane practice! I’ve never flown before. So I wanted to try flying once on my own before I flew with you. I didn’t want to look like a clueless idiot. That would’ve embarrassed you.”

“You don’t say things like that to people. Apologize.”

“You’re just some broke whore who came here to sell your body, so don’t act all high and mighty.”

“Sell my body...?”

“You’re just like Simcheong. That’s what you are.”

Joo Seunghyuk’s expression went cold. Even drunk like this, Yeonsu still remembered those words. “Broke whore”—that insult had clearly dug in deep.

“...That’s your excuse? Don’t you have anything a little more believable?”

“Sorry...”

Yeonsu drooped his head miserably. Joo Seunghyuk pulled him into a tight embrace.

“And you’re not a broke whore.”

“I’m not?”

“That was my mistake. I shouldn’t have said that. I want to erase that memory from you.”

“No—don’t erase it!”

Yeonsu jerked back in alarm and shook his head fiercely.

“Why not? You don’t want me to?”

“Because it’s a memory of us. I can’t let you erase that.”

“....”

Yeonsu gave a bashful smile and burrowed into Seunghyuk’s arms.

“You were so pretty that day... and then you turned into an idiot.”

The bright smile on his face suddenly darkened.

He sure went through a lot of facial expressions when he was drunk...

“I’m an idiot?”

“Yeah. You’re an idiot.”

“Why am I an idiot?”

“Because you can’t even count.”

“Me?”

Joo Seunghyuk looked genuinely bewildered, but Yeonsu nodded earnestly.

“Yeah. You always say, ‘Just one more time,’ but it’s never just once.”

Yeonsu pouted and grabbed Seunghyuk’s hand. He folded down all his fingers except his index finger. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“This is one. One means once. Got it?”

With the utmost seriousness, Yeonsu explained the concept of ‘one’ to him. Watching him act like he was teaching a toddler made Seunghyuk laugh out loud.

“Okay. Got it. But are you disappointed in me for growing up into a grown man who can’t even count?”

“Yeah. That’s why I tried to fly away. You were bad too.”

Yeonsu said it so seriously, but none of it made any logical sense.

“You left because I couldn’t count?”

“I didn’t hate it.”

“But you did.”

“No I didn’t! I just—I've never flown on a plane before!”

He blurted it out in a panic.

What was he even saying...? His pronunciation was clear, but the content was a mess. Despite being completely drunk, he was somehow holding a conversation—and still veering off course.

Why was he even taking this drunken nonsense so seriously?

As Joo Seunghyuk silently stared at him, Yeonsu mumbled in a tiny voice.

“Sorry... I thought if I told you I’d never flown before, you’d hate me...”

“That’s it? Come on, Yeonsu, you’re smart. Got nothing better?”

“Don’t get mad, Seunghyuk. Don’t be scary.”

“Scary? I must be really easy if you think that counts as an excuse.”

“No, you’re really scary!”

“Scary, huh...? The scary one’s the one who keeps vanishing—you, Yeonsu.”

“Me?”

He tilted his head in confusion.

“Yeah. You’re the scariest person in the whole world to me.”

“So... you didn’t come because you were scared of me?”

“....”

When Seunghyuk didn’t reply, Yeonsu squeezed his hand tight.

“Seunghyuk, I’m not scary! I’m not a scary person! You can XXXX and XX and even XX me—just don’t leave!”

When Yeonsu started listing a stream of obscene acts, Joo Seunghyuk fell speechless.

Yeonsu, watching him with anxious eyes, leaned in and kissed him. A soft, fleeting brush of the lips—and then he pulled back.

“Seunghyuk... I don’t care what you do to me. Just don’t leave me alone. Please...”

Joo Seunghyuk looked down at Yeonsu, who clung to him, desperate not to be abandoned.

He caressed Yeonsu’s lips, then pulled him close by the nape of his neck and kissed him.

Yeonsu flinched in surprise but soon placed his hands on Seunghyuk’s shoulders—and accepted the kiss.