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Jiho was speechless.

“Hey, this… is just because there was an emergency situation.”

“A C-rank fissure is an ‘emergency situation’?”

Yiwon muttered, as if he truly couldn’t understand. Then he looked once at the photo in the post and once at Jiho before shaking his head and sighing.

“Honey is too weak…. I’m really brave for letting you outside.”

“…”

It’s been nearly half a month since Yiwon last appeared, but he’s already picking a fight with him. The most annoying part is that Yiwon’s words weren’t meant to scratch Jiho’s pride–they were a true lament coming from Yiwon’s heart.

Annoyed, Jiho kicked Yiwon. After letting him kick him, Yiwon climbed on top of Jiho’s body.

Though their bodies didn’t touch, thanks to Yiwon’s posture of pushing him down, a large shadow covered Jiho. Yiwon’s pitch black eyes were shining slightly golden.

“Jiho. What’s the relationship between you and Kim Tae Yong?”

That’s something I should be asking you.

Someone whose scandal was blasted all over daily newspapers and news channels has no right to say that to him. Jiho glared at Yiwon, dumbfounded by how Yiwon was interrogating him over a stupid post.

“Hey, wake up. We’re not in any relationship.”

“But you were in a scandal.”

“How is that a scandal, that’s just some picture on an online community. Was I the one who got into a scandal? No, you’re the one who got into a scandal! What’s the relationship between you and Lee Ha Yeon-ssi?” 

Fuming in anger, Jiho snapped. But Yiwon just stared at Jiho before grinning. 

“Honey, are you being jealous right now?”

Guilty, Jiho closed his mouth.

In their relationship, is there a reason he should be jealous that Yiwon started dating? is what Jiho wanted to ask but… Jiho also knows that his reaction isn’t normal.

However, why would he be jealous of a friend, who’s basically a brother to him, for getting a girlfriend?

Is he envious? Or maybe he just doesn’t want to lose?

But it’s not like dating is a competition either.

Of course, there’s people who go around bragging about their dating experience or parading their partners like they’re trophies, but Jiho doesn’t like those types of people.

Jiho also knows that his reaction is a bit excessive, but….

“I’m not jealous.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Definitely.”

Jiho affirmed his state. He’s not really sure what he’s feeling, but it’s not jealousy. There’s no way it is.

Seeing Jiho’s firmness, Yiwon sighed.

“It’d be nice if you were jealous. Even more than you are now.”

“Like I said, I’m not jealous right now.”

“If Jiho gets jealous, I can do anything. Even if you tell me to enter an SSS-rank dungeon by myself, I’ll do it.”

“I won’t get jealous, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

Even if he’s Joo Yiwon, going into an SSS-rank dungeon alone can only be described as suicide. Seeing Jiho stop him with a straight face, Yiwon put on a grievous expression, like a disappointed dog with its tail lowered.

“Okay…. Well, this is my burden, but there’s still a long way to go.”

“What burden?”

“How you don’t like me right now.”

Jiho was silenced. By saying that Jiho doesn’t like him right now, doesn’t that imply that he liked Yiwon before? But he’s never liked Yiwon in that way before.

However, to tell him off for speaking nonsense again, Yiwon looked too pitiful. Even though there’s nothing to pity about him.

“Hey…. I like you too, okay? It’s just not in that way. And it’s not like I have anyone I’m closer to than I am with you….”

“Really?”

Yiwon asked, tilting his head to the side. His previously dark gaze was sparkling brightly, as if it had never been dark in the first place.

Though he can’t describe Joo Yiwon’s appearance cute even as a joke, maybe it’s because of this that whenever Yiwon does something that doesn’t match, he looks kinda cute.

“Yeah, really.”

Even if he finds Joo Yiwon annoying, Jiho likes Yiwon. As a friend and close family member.

If he thinks about it, sure maybe he is feeling jealous. If his dog suddenly ignored him one day to go wag his tail at someone else, wouldn’t he feel bad?

Jiho convinced himself of this and placed his hand on top of Yiwon’s head. Then, Jiho began to gently stroke his as if Yiwon were really a dog. Because Yiwon’s body is quite robust, Jiho had presumed that Yiwon’s hair would be rough, but it was actually surprisingly soft.

As Jiho continued to pet him, Yiwon narrowed his eyes and smiled before bringing his hand up to Jiho’s head to rub it softly.

Despite it being his head that was touched, Jiho snatched his hand away as if he had been shocked. Then, realizing what he had done, Jiho was horrified.

‘How can I treat him like a dog? What if he feels offended?’

Thankfully, Yiwon didn’t seem offended but instead rather pleased. That was a relief, but….

“You can keep touching me. Doesn’t it feel good to touch me? Don’t you want to touch more?”

“No. It’s nothing like that.”

“Sure, sure. If you want, I’ll take it off for you.”

“Take off what….”

Jiho frowned at Yiwon’s extremely insincere reply, but he had nothing else to say. If only he knew where this guy’s misunderstanding stemmed from–then he could explain. Since Yiwon doesn’t explain anything, Jiho can’t do anything about it.

“Anyways, Lee Ha Yeon and I aren’t in any relationship. Alright?”

Jiho was going to brush over the topic, but Yiwon brought it back just to assure him. Hearing this, Jiho, whose heart had melted into a puddle of goo, hardened again. Determined to reveal the truth, Jiho glared angrily at Yiwon.

“Then why did you meet her?”

“Because of work.”

“Then why was it not through Chungram?”

“It was a personal request. Anyways, I don’t have any romantic feelings for her at all. If people date everyone they meet, you would be dating Heo Sori. Since you guys are always together.”

“Nonsense.”

“Do you want me to find a picture of you and Heo Sori together?”

“No….”

Even though Jiho didn’t need it, Yiwon still pulled out his terminal and searched for a bit before showing a photo. While there are a couple of photos of them holding each other because of combat….

“See, it looks plausible.”

“…That’s that. But you have the ability to avoid people.”

“It’s not like I always have my guard up. I can get distracted. There’s no such thing as impossible.”

“…”

“Lee Ha Yeon-ssi denied it too. She probably doesn’t like being tied to me either?”

“Who wouldn’t like being tied to you?”

Although Jiho grumbled like he was annoyed, he was secretly relieved to hear Yiwon deny everything.

True, if everyone starts dating whenever they touch someone of the opposite sex…. One could say Jiho is two-timing–no three or even four-timing–the No Name guildmembers.

Though Joo Yiwon probably isn’t telling the whole truth, it doesn’t mean he’ll put so much effort into lying.

“Do you finally believe me?”

“For now. It’s not like it’s something I should care about in the first place.”

“Don’t say something so upsetting. Care about me. Get jealous, keep thinking about me, and….”

Yiwon mumbled, before lowering his head. Jiho felt like Yiwon didn’t say the words he wanted to say most, but Jiho couldn’t ask. For some reason, his lips felt heavy.

Above Jiho, who was keeping silent, a large body lowered, bringing along a heavy weight.

“Hey…. Are you trying to crush me to death?”

“It’s so annoying….”

Yiwon complained and let out a long sigh. Hearing this, Jiho, who was going to push off the large body on top of him, stopped. 

“I’m swamped enough as it is, but now there’s a scandal like this…. I’m so so annoyed. I just want to blow off the reporter’s head.”

Seeing Yiwon like this made Jiho immediately feel sorry. Though he didn’t look it, it seems that Yiwon had received a lot of stress.

Of course Yiwon would get annoyed if he gets swept into a new scandal every time he meets with someone of the other sex. Jiho stopped trying to push Yiwon away and went to gently stroke his hair.

“Yes, yes, you must’ve been very tired. You don’t have to feel so stressed, just do what you want to do.”

“Then can I blow it up?”

“What?”

“The reporter’s head?”

“You think?”

No matter how stressed he is, his joke goes too far. Seeing Jiho respond as though he was pathetic, Yiwon sighed once more before rubbing his head against Jiho.

“It would be a lot better if I could just take over this world, but that would just put Jiho in a tough position….”

“Ha. If you take over the world, what, are you going to become a dictator or something? Like that’s easy.”

Jiho snorted in disbelief, but Yiwon just lifted his head. His two eyes were, unlike usual, burning with passion. The only problem is that the reason behind those eyes was very disturbing.

“Just becoming a dictator isn’t enough. I need to become Big Brother.”

“You crazy bastard…. That’s even harder.”

“But I think I’d feel better that way.”

Yiwon replied casually.

Joo Yiwon probably could exercise complete control like Big Brother from the novel 1984.

After all, even in the era of advanced science, the sudden appearance of awakened ones and their magical powers often allow the human population to jump leaps and bounds past what they had achieved over the past thousands of years.

While there’s no way Yiwon would actually do such a thing, if he’s saying something like that, it means he’s been pushed to the edge. Jiho pulled Yiwon deeper into his embrace and forcefully extinguished Yiwon’s dangerous thoughts.

“You must be really tired. That’s what you get for not coming home and wandering around.”

“Eung. I’m so tired….”

Jiho doesn’t know what this guy was doing, but it doesn’t look like he couldn’t come home because he was too busy playing around.

Yiwon denied the scandal and he said he was too busy to come home, not because he was playing.

Jiho’s anger was easily dissipated.

Though it’s slightly embarrassing, Jiho softly patted the back of his friend, who had received a lot of stress recently.

Jiho had a lot of angry things to say to this bastard who ignored him for over two weeks. But as soon as he saw how tired Yiwon was, Jiho couldn’t bring himself to say anything harsh to him….

Jiho wonders if his easy attitude is the reason why Joo Yiwon views him as an easy target and likes to play nasty jokes on him.

“That’s why you should come home.”

“Okay.”

“Eung.”

“Jiho-ya.”

“What.”

“Shin Jiho….”

It’s also hard to ignore a guy who carefully pulls Jiho closer and checks to make sure that his heart is still beating.

Jiho continued patting Yiwon until he eventually fell asleep.

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LaZ Bird Corner

A bit of fluff(?) to make up for his absence.

68.2 is also up!!!

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