Chapter 38: Something Unknown (12)

11-14 minutes 29.06.2023

Goosebumps spread throughout Jiho’s body at Yiwon’s words.

Jiho, who wanted to jump out of the bed, was held back by Yiwon. Despite Yiwon not using all of his strength, he was still too strong for Jiho to free himself from.

Unable to control the goosebumps running through his body, Jiho flailed around.

“Stop joking around!”

“But it’s not a joke… Ah, Jiho’s ears are red.”

Yiwon’s lips brushed over Jiho’s ear. Jiho aimed a kick towards the center of Yiwon’s body, one which Yiwon easily dodged before he released his hold on Jiho, as if he hadn’t been just clinging onto him.

“Is it too early for a married couple’s suite? Then again, we haven’t even had our wedding yet.”

“There will never be a wedding!”

“If you don’t like it being a honeymoon suite, then you can have this room to yourself.”

“Why should I…”

“Should we use it together?”

“Are you crazy?”

“Then you have it. This room’s convenient since it’s near the front door.”

Seeing how Yiwon was passing this room over to him so naturally, Jiho was sure that this was what that bastard had been aiming for all along.

Joo Yiwon is the type of person to get what he wants, no matter the means, which includes slowly inducing someone into it. 

He’s always been like that. And Jiho usually falls for it. Since Joo Yiwon’s acts of stubbornness always fall within the boundaries of what Jiho allows.

Thus, Jiho is already clear about what the end result will be. Yet he tried to protest one last time.

“It’s fine. This is your house. You use it. My room in our family’s house is on the second floor; it’s not uncomfortable at all. Rather, this room is more uncomfortable.”

“But it makes sense for you to use this room.”

“Makes sense?”

“Think about it, Jiho. If someone were to bomb the roof, wouldn’t it be better for me to get hit first?”

“What kind of…”

“Jiho might die from one blow while I wouldn’t. This way, I can guard the lower floor.”

While his words do make sense, the example is too extreme. It’s not like they’re in the middle of a war right now–why would they get hit by a bomb?

“Is there a war I don’t know about? Bomb? What bomb? Say something that makes sense.”

“Right. But no one expected a monster to come find a person in the middle of a city and pierce them either, right?”

“…”

That’s true.

This bastard definitely has a certificate in shutting up Shin Jiho.

Though he tried to argue a bit more, in the end, it was decided that Jiho would use the lower floor. After passing the bedroom onto Jiho, Yiwon happily opened the bathroom door.

The bathroom was also enormous. Especially the bathtub. It was so big that it looked too empty for just one person to use.

“It’s better to be big if two people are to use it together. This is a married couple’s suite, after all.”

Yiwon spoke as if he had read Jiho’s mind.

“Since it needs to be big enough for two people to move around in it.”1

“It looks big enough to fit five people.”

“Haha.”

As they exchanged light jokes, Jiho thought internally.

‘Is he trying to tell me to use this room carefully so he can use it when he gets married?’

After all, this is the perfect room for a couple to use. It’s suitable for indoor date in, thanks to the realistic illusions, and the large bathtub looks comfortable as well.

Thinking this, Jiho felt like it was a relief that he was the first to move into this house. Had Yiwon lived in this house from the beginning, Jiho might’ve unconsciously thought about Yiwon’s unknown dates.

Though it’s not his business who Joo Yiwon dates, he would still feel disturbed and uncomfortable. And he doesn’t think he’ll be able to fall asleep in a room where he doesn’t know what others have done in it.

Jiho shook his head to get rid of these distracting thoughts.

After touring the first floor that Jiho will use, they moved up to the second floor that Yiwon will use.

Just as the first floor has common areas like the kitchen, dining area, and laundry room, the second floor does too. About half of the second floor is taken up by a movie theater and training room.

After looking through all of the rooms, there was only one room left. Yet Yiwon stopped Jiho from opening the door.

“Ah, this is the only room you can’t go in. All of the other rooms are fine, but not this one.”

“… Are you Bluebeard or something?”

Bluebeard.

An aristocrat by that name had a bad record of all of his wives going missing.

He had warned his new wife that she could go into all of the other rooms except for one. But the wife couldn’t hold back, and she entered the room anyway. Inside the secret room were the dead bodies of all of the missing wives… is what the disturbing fairy tale is about.2

So, in conclusion, he’s not a good man.

Despite being compared to a monstrous murderer, Yiwon was undisturbed. 

“That’s right. If Jiho opens the door to this room, you won’t be able to step a foot out of this house.”

“Ha. She ends up escaping in the end in Bluebeard, alright?”

Jiho snorted and swung the door open.

The room wasn’t very large. The thing that filled the room was…

Photographs.

Photographs of one person.

There was no furniture in the room. Everywhere besides the floor–all of the walls and even the ceiling–were plastered with photos of Jiho.

“…”

A dead body would’ve been less shocking than this.3

“See, I told you not to open it.”

Yiwon whispered in Jiho’s ear. His hand fell on Jiho’s shoulder. Yiwon’s low laugh sounded particularly chilling today.

Jiho panicked and pushed Yiwon off before taking a step back. It was his mistake for entering this room. Jiho’s eyes darted nervously back and forth as he widened the distance between him and Yiwon.

“D-Don’t come near me.”

“You’re actually scared. Sad…”

Yiwon mumbled sadly. He made a gesture towards his side.

“Look carefully. They’re photos of friends.”

“Uh…”

Jiho checked the photos again. 

Upon closer look, all of the photos did have their friends in them.

Although a lot of the pictures are zoomed in on Jiho… and most of them are focused on Jiho…

He’s right. It’s not like Joo Yiwon is a pervert or something; would he really have filled a room with pictures of Shin Jiho?

Of course, it’s a little weird to have pictures of friends up as well but…

“I had a hard time when I was first going on dungeon raids and putting my life on the line. I thought it might help if I could see the faces of the people I have to protect, so I started putting pictures up but it turned into this.”

Yiwon explained. His eyes were filled with emotion. 

… Well, when a person is going through rough times, they could do something like this.

Obviously, Shin Jiho wouldn’t do something like this, but when there’s 7 billion people in the world, there’s 7 billion different ways to do something. Just because it seems a little weird from his perspective, doesn’t mean he can say it’s objectively wrong.

In order to get rid of his prejudice and thoughts, Jiho tried his best to look through the photos.

There were photos from when they were small kids in preschool, to ones from elementary, junior high, and high school. Even when faces of friends changed, Jiho and Yiwon were always together.

“Why did I go on so many trips with you? There’s not a single time I’m not there.”

“Your friends were my friends, and my friends were your friends.”

“That’s true.”

Since the two had always been together since they were young, their friend groups overlapped. Whenever they went on trips, Yiwon stuck especially close to Jiho, who was always sick, as if Jiho needed him. As a result, all of their friends treated Jiho and Yiwon as one set.

Well, they’ve lost contact with most of those friends now though…

Most of the photos in this room were photos of friends that haven’t been cut off yet. It made it less upsetting.

“Is it still hard for you?”

“Hm? No.”

“Then can’t you take these down now? Even though you have a reason… I feel like you can take them down…”

No matter the circumstance, a room full of Jiho’s face is still a little unsettling. But Yiwon shrugged as if he didn’t see anything wrong with it.

“But aren’t the days when we could travel around freely gone now? I want to leave a room full of memories.”

Yiwon sounded unperturbed, but Jiho’s heart hurt at his words.

Although Jiho wasn’t there at that time, he heard that the world had fallen into chaos when fissures began opening up all of a sudden.

Yiwon hadn’t stood in such a firm position in the beginning. There were times when it was dangerous, and times when he was cursed at too. Yiwon had probably gone through a lot while Jiho wasn’t there to protect him.

When Yiwon was all alone with no one to lean on during those hard times, all he could do was gain strength from the pictures of his friends, but now that everything has settled down, he says he can’t live a normal life anymore.

Jiho couldn’t help but pity him.

“What do you mean gone? We can go on one later.”

“Will Jiho go with me?”

“Of course.”

Jiho nodded. Yiwon, too, went no-contact with most of their friends from before. Since neither of them have any friends to go with…

Jiho didn’t cut contact with his friends himself. When he woke up in the hospital, a lot of friends had come to find him.

But when public opinion shifted and Jiho began to be cursed at, they became strange. A few of the friends went on interviews or internet forums and started spreading weird rumors.

Yiwon tracked down all of the friends who slandered Jiho without Jiho knowing. And he was the first to cut contact with them.

Jiho was already, mentally, at his worst, so he, too, blocked every single one of them with the intention of never seeing them again.

Still, should he say it’s a good thing that they were able to keep a few friends?

‘This bastard… is also one of the few friends who stayed by my side.’

Feeling Jiho’s glance, Yiwon curved his eyes and smiled.

Though he’s alone, Yiwon’s smile is bright.

“Good. Then I’ll be looking forward to Jiho going out with me.”

“There’s no need to go as far as to look forward to it…”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

“Ah, okay…”

Feeling somewhat burdened to plan something big, Jiho walked out of the confusing room and closed the door.

Though he understands why Yiwon made this room, that doesn’t mean he wants to go back.

Rubbing the goosebumps that are still on his arm, Jiho checked the time.

It’s 6:30.

Yiwon, who came down the stairs to the first floor with Jiho, naturally grabbed Jiho’s hand and dragged him with him.

“Are you hungry? I’ll make you something.”

“No, I have a dinner plan. I have to start getting ready.”

Like a coin flipping, Yiwon’s expression changed instantly at Jiho’s answer.