At Sawon’s pointed question, Ji Hayeon’s lips trembled."That’s because you…!""Yeah. Me?"But Ji Hayeon couldn’t go on. He bit down hard on his own lip."You’re my guard.""Are you saying you’re worried I’ll share Metena with some snot-nosed rookie, run out of energy, and not be able to protect you, Chief?""That’s not it.""Then what is it.""You… are you going to keep doing this?"Sawon lifted his eyebrows, as if urging him to explain what the hell he meant. He felt Ji Hayeon’s fist clenching tight. His voice shook faintly."Every time… people need you, just because you’re strong, just because you have a lot of Metena, just because… just because you’re… in a slightly better position than others—are you going to do everything they ask?""Sharing a little Metena isn’t that big a deal.""So you’re saying you’ll just keep doing this.""What else am I supposed to do if I don’t. Just leave the rookie hunter behind like this?""That’s not what I meant. I…""You did the same thing.""When."Sawon glared at him, remembering the incident at the Institute. The day they first met, Ji Hayeon had held the black sphere alone on the 43rd floor while sending his juniors down in the elevator."Back at the Institute. You sent your juniors down to the first floor and stayed alone on forty-three.""That was…""You probably had no choice. Because that was the only way. Isn’t that why you did it?""…"Sawon took a step closer to Ji Hayeon."Chief. I’m the same. There’s no way he can go down to that depth with his leg like that. He’s still this team’s rookie hunter, at least in name. We’re responsible for getting him back in one piece."But Ji Hayeon’s body was trembling hard. Sawon lowered his head, searching his eyes.Even in the dim view, he could see the twisted expression on his face at a glance. At times like this, the Metena lighting up his vision was something to be grateful for.Ji Hayeon spoke again, his voice even shakier."Are you really… going to keep doing this?""…Huh?""If people lean on you, are you going to take all of it, and do everything they want? You act like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Like you’re the only answer… like relying on you is just how it’s supposed to be.""…""From now on too… again…"His voice was already damp. Sawon stared at him steadily.What the hell did I hit this time?But even if he asked what was setting him off, Ji Hayeon didn’t seem like he’d answer honestly right now. Too many people were watching, and from what Sawon had figured out living with him, that was how he was.In the end, right now Ji Hayeon wasn’t someone he needed to soothe so much as shut down. Rather than guessing at what was under that black cloth, playing twenty questions until he hit the answer, and coaxing him through some long-winded process, he had to refuse flat-out. In Hinari, this wasn’t the place or time to carefully comfort Ji Hayeon.No helping it. If he couldn’t offer a carrot, he’d have to swing the stick instead. Sawon looked at Ji Hayeon with the same mindset he used when disciplining Nine. His voice dropped a notch lower."Yeah. I’ll do anything.""You will…?""If it’s something I can do, I’ll match anything."But this wasn’t just something he’d blurted out to wriggle out of the moment. It was one of the resolutions he always carried in his chest.The reason Nine had come to him, the reason he’d become the only hunter able to handle a familiar, the reason Gu Sawon had lost his past memories—there were still questions he hadn’t solved.So he’d thought this: if he handled the jobs he could do, the things only he could pull off, one by one—maybe he’d get closer to the reason he’d ended up this way. It was one step in tracing back the cause of why he’d become a one-of-a-kind hunter.Of course, Ji Hayeon didn’t know the real meaning inside "I’ll do anything." The second the stick landed, tears welled up in his eyes.Huh? That’s not what I meant to happen.Flustered, Sawon flapped his hands."This is killing me. Why are you crying!""I’m not crying."His eyes were hot and full of moisture, and seeing him insist he wasn’t crying with his face like that was almost ridiculous.He’s a total crybaby. Why does he tear up so easily.Instinctively, Sawon was seized by the urge to somehow calm him down. For some reason, every time Ji Hayeon showed weakness, Sawon felt a spike of impatience.Forget sticks, forget anything. He grabbed Ji Hayeon’s shoulders and gave him a little shake, almost like whining."If you say you’re not crying, does that magically make crying not crying?"In the end, it turned into Sawon soothing him again. The stick he’d swung just whooshed once through the air and vanished. Ji Hayeon bit his lip hard and swallowed his rising breaths."What are you, some kind of hero? Some great big superhero? Is there only one hunter in the world? Or are you supposed to be a god or something? If that’s how it is, quit the Central Hunter Bureau. Flip it over, bang the drums and the gongs, if you can solve everything by yourself then why bother being affiliated with the Bureau at all?"He finally stopped his rapid-fire barrage for one second. A red droplet slid down from under his nose. Standing right in front of him, Sawon reached out quickly."Here we go again."His hand slipped through the Metena shield and wiped under Ji Hayeon’s nose. Ji Hayeon pushed at his wrist, but Sawon’s hand didn’t budge. Ji Hayeon snapped at him."Move your hand.""Don’t be like that. Come here."The thin trickle of blood was steadily increasing. With raw Metena flowing through all the land of Hinari, it was probably the influence of that. He’d been exposed to an excessive amount of Metena.Sawon calculated how long they’d been in Hinari. It was coming up on six hours. For an intellect-type, that was definitely pushing it.As Ji Hayeon kept shoving at his hand, Sawon pressed his forehead to his.He had to calm him down and get them out of here, fast."Chief. You keep getting mad with that pretty face and you just end up bleeding more.""…""We’re done with what we came here to do. Are we really going to waste time arguing like this? I want to get you home, Chief. Fast."At those words, Ji Hayeon’s body trembled in even finer shivers. Heat flushed more strongly into his cheeks. Even through gloves, combat suit, and armor, Sawon’s sharp senses caught every tiny change in him.Is hearing that embarrassing? Doesn’t feel like that. He looks more like someone who’s hurt… But what’s he even got to be hurt about…?While Sawon was lost in confusion, Ji Hayeon shook his head hard."Ugh, I’ll wipe it myself, just move your hand…!"Sawon stepped back a pace and immediately switched the comm to full mode.Crkk."Mok Geonho. Exactly how long has it been since we came in? I think it’s starting to push the limits of intellect-type bodies."Only then did Kim Wujeong really look at his own member and yell:"Lee Seorim, you okay?""Ah, yes. I’m fine.""How are you ‘fine’ when you’ve got a double nosebleed pouring down!""Nosebleeds are always happening to me anyway, so it’s fine…"They were people who looked like they’d been born to be protected—delicate like deer. Mok Geonho checked the time."It’s been nearly six hours since we entered. No good. Pack it up and head out."Sawon pulled a Metena capsule from the chest of his combat suit. When Ji Hayeon turned his head away, refusing to let ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ him wipe with it, he grabbed his smooth jaw tight."Hey. Hold still."He felt Ji Hayeon bite down on his lip again. Those reddened lips looked like they’d split open at any moment.Why is his whole body like soft tofu. Would it kill him to be a little sturdier.With a touch colored by faint irritation, Sawon tugged his lips free. He didn’t want the guy bleeding any more than this. Ji Hayeon’s lips parted.Sawon knew better than anyone that Ji Hayeon was a tall, good-looking young man. He knew that the chest he pulled into his arms was pretty broad, and that his bare upper body wasn’t soft at all.But strangely, that wasn’t what stuck with him so much as the way his lips split at the slightest thing and the way he kept bleeding.Sawon popped the Metena capsule against Ji Hayeon’s face. As his hand moved more gently, wiping him clean, his own face drifted closer and closer to Ji Hayeon’s. He felt Ji Hayeon pull his neck back."You going to hold still or not."He yanked the jaw he was gripping closer. Their faces ended up so close their noses almost touched. Ji Hayeon grabbed his wrist."I’ll… I’ll do it."But he didn’t shove him away hard or tear himself free with strength.He was impossible to read. He’d flare up in anger, then settle almost immediately, only to sulk again.This time, he pushed at Sawon’s chest in a slow, insistent way, trying to ease him back. Feeling the soft pressure through the combat suit, Sawon bit his lip. With the distance so close, his breathing fell into rhythm on its own.Their breaths should have been blocked by the Metena helmet, and yet he could almost feel the faint exhale. The sensation of Ji Hayeon’s lips under his fingers through the transparent barrier felt strangely vivid.Sawon remembered the kiss in the elevator the day they’d infiltrated the Institute.They were ridiculously soft…"Gu Sawon."Ji Hayeon pushed a little harder at his chest. Sawon mixed impulse with his wandering train of thought and blocked him with a teasing threat."Ji Hayeon. If you keep pushing me away."He suddenly switched the comm to the private line between the two of them and finished:"I’m just going to kiss you."

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