AP CH 17 (Mighty Town)

“Eat up and clean up after yourselves. You know where the key is, right?”

“Yes. Thank you, boss. We’ll settle the bill before we leave.”

Seo-rin placed two large bowls in front of Seon-woo and Hyeon-chae before dashing off, trying not to miss the shuttle.

“Go on, eat. Woo Seo-rin makes damn good ramen.”

Hyeon-chae, who had been staring intently at the bowl in front of him, finally picked up his chopsticks.










After making sure the place was tidied up just enough to avoid getting scolded by the boss, Seon-woo paid 100,000 won and naturally grabbed a Pocari from the fridge on his way out. Dropping down beside Hyeon-chae, he cracked open the can and handed it over.

Side by side, they gazed out at the slopes. Unlike the daytime, the snow-covered land was eerily silent, with not a single soul in sight and the ski lifts frozen in place.

“I’m sorry about that day. I took my anger out on you. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“What made you so angry?”

“………”

“Was it because of Choi Lee-won?”

Seon-woo turned to look at him. Their eyes met instantly, as if Hyeon-chae had been watching him the whole time. Beneath the shadows cast by his long lashes, his eyes looked dark and heavy.

“Yeah. It was.”

As soon as Seon-woo admitted it, Hyeon-chae’s soft pink lips parted slightly. Lowering his gaze, he clenched his fist tightly, forcing himself to sound nonchalant.

“……Do you think you’ll keep getting angry about it?”

“Probably.”

Hyeon-chae bit his lip and turned away from Seon-woo. His gaze, once dropped to the ground, refused to rise again.

Seon-woo watched as a teardrop clung to the tip of his eyelashes, growing heavier and fuller with each passing second. He let out a quiet sigh.

“Why are you crying?”

“……Because you only waver because of him, sunbae.”

At the honest answer, Seon-woo let out a bitter smile. He remained silent for a long moment before murmuring softly,

“But it’s not great, you know……It’s exhausting.”

As he rose from his seat, Hyeon-chae, startled, quickly lifted his head and followed. The tears that had been welling up in his eyes finally overflowed, carving clear, frozen trails down his cheeks.

Standing face-to-face with Hyeon-chae, Seon-woo met the gaze blurred entirely by tears. Reaching out, he cupped one of his cheeks, his fingers gently brushing away the wetness near his eyes. Hyeon-chae’s lashes trembled at the tender touch.

“For some reason, I can’t get angry when I look at your face. You’re……”

Seon-woo’s lips parted as if to say more, but then he shut them tight. A fleeting look of regret crossed his furrowed eyes.

Sensing the shift—the subtle pullback—Hyeon-chae hurriedly grabbed onto the hand that cupped his face.

“I…… I’ll help you. I want to help you, so you won’t be angry.”

So you won’t like Choi Lee-won. So you won’t get hurt like that ever again.

Swallowing down the words he couldn’t bear to say aloud, Hyeon-chae clung desperately to Seon-woo’s hand like a lifeline.

Seon-woo, unable to tear his gaze away from Hyeon-chae’s achingly beautiful face as he pleaded, found himself asking, as if entranced,

“……Will you?”

“In return, you have to only look at me.”

Because that way, you won’t get angry.

The barely whispered plea softened the rigid expression on Seon-woo’s face. Finally, he let out a small, quiet smile.



*****





“Where’s your place? I’ll walk you back.”

“Just at the villa back there.”

“You mean the one by the lake?”

Hyeon-chae nodded casually, and Seon-woo let out an incredulous laugh. Lake Village was the most high-end residential area in Mighty Town, home to luxury pool villas. A single night easily exceeded a million won, and even then, most units had already been privately purchased by chaebols who used them as vacation homes. Reservations were nearly impossible, no matter how much money one had. Most likely, the place where Hyeon-chae was staying belonged to Simjin.

And yet, he had just called it “a villa back there.”

Seon-woo chuckled to himself, shaking his head. As he did, Hyeon-chae, who had been quietly watching him, asked,

“But isn’t it too far?”

“It is far, but it’s quiet. Private.”

“I meant with you, sunbae.”

Understanding the implication, Seon-woo glanced at him with mild curiosity.

“How long are you staying here?”

“What about you, sunbae?”

“……I’ll be here until February. I’m an instructor, but you don’t have anything to do here.”

“I have to help you, remember?”

“There’s nothing to help with since there’s no Lee-won. You’ll just be wasting your time.”

For some reason, that response didn’t sit well with Hyeon-chae, and he pressed his lips together in silence. Even without trying to tease him, Seon-woo found his reactions amusing. They continued walking toward the lake, the stillness of dawn settling comfortably between them.

Crossing the frozen lake, they entered Lake Village, where the villas were clustered. It was Seon-woo’s first time seeing the place up close, and he took in the scenery with open curiosity. The foreign-style architecture, warm lighting, steeply sloped roofs covered in snow, and the lake glistening in the background—it all made the place feel like an entirely different country.

“This is it. ……Would you like to come in for a bit?”

Hyeon-chae asked while resting his hand on the fence wall, his voice hesitant.

Seon-woo snorted, a smirk tugging at his lips.

“This late at night? There’s no such thing as ‘for a bit.’”

“………”

“See you.”

Without waiting for an answer, Seon-woo turned away, leaving Hyeon-chae standing there.

But even as he walked out of Lake Village, the scorching intensity of that gaze trailed behind him, burning against his back.



*****


Saying, ‘I can’t get angry when I look at your face,’ was not something to be said lightly. Especially not to someone as nuts as Eun Hyeon-chae. Seon-woo, who had unknowingly handed over his weakness, only realized the fact after the incident occurred.

The doorbell rang early in the morning, jolting Seon-woo awake. He blinked in confusion, staring at the entrance.

There was no housekeeping service here, so there was no reason for anyone to visit.

Maybe it’s Dong-jin?

Still half-asleep, he stumbled toward the door and opened it, shivering as a blast of cold air rushed in. Through the slight gap, Hyeon-chae peeked in, his head tilted expectantly.

“Sunbae.”

“Fuck, what the……Eun Hyeon-chae?”

Seon-woo gawked, his drowsiness instantly evaporating.

Hyeon-chae’s eyes widened at the sight of him—standing there in nothing but his underwear. Hurriedly, he stepped inside, shutting the door behind him as if sealing out the winter chill.

“You’ll catch a cold.”

Still struggling to process this absurdity, Seon-woo blinked at him, utterly bewildered.

“What are you doing here at this hour? And what’s with all this luggage—Wait, no. Absolutely not.”

A growing sense of unease crept over him at the faint flush on Hyeon-chae’s otherwise composed face. Seon-woo immediately shut him down. But then, in a quiet, subdued voice, Hyeon-chae murmured, eyes downcast,

“I want to stay with you for the winter…… but you’re just going to tell me to leave again, aren’t you? Say there’s nothing I can do. That I should go back. That you don’t need any help……”

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

Seon-woo ran a hand roughly over his face, at a complete loss for words.

Meanwhile, Hyeon-chae, who had been sneaking glances at Seon-woo’s toned physique—the defined muscles, long limbs, particularly firm thighs, and broad chest—quickly averted his gaze when Seon-woo exhaled a deep sigh and looked up.

“How long are you planning to stay?”

“……I want to see the Christmas event.”

Christmas was still a little over two weeks away.

Seon-woo hadn’t expected him to leave quietly, anyway.

After roughly calculating his schedule, he gave a small nod.

When he finished pulling on some clothes and stepped out, Eun Hyeon-chae was sitting on the sofa, gazing out at the ski slopes through the window.

“What about Schuphur?”

“I’m not sure.”

Seon-woo had expected a flat-out refusal, but instead, Hyeon-chae’s answer was ambiguous.

So, what’s he planning to do about Inun?……Well, that’s none of my concern.

“Alright. Christmas it is. I’ll hang out with you when I have free time, but take your stuff back to your place. What do you plan to do, staying here?”

“………”

“I told you, right? I think I can handle being with an Alpha now. And honestly, let me just be upfront—I don’t think I can hold back anymore.”

“You don’t even like me yet, sunbae.” The word ‘yet’ awkwardly forced its way into the sentence, making Seon-woo let out a dry laugh. But Eun Hyeon-chae’s expression turned sorrowful. “Isn’t it wrong to do this when you don’t even like me?”

“It’s because I know it’s wrong…..that it turns me on even more.”

“I really hate this.”

His lips, tightly pressed together, looked beautiful even as they expressed a faint disdain. Seon-woo knew that no matter how many times Hyeon-chae said he hated it, he would never say he hated Seon-woo. And that knowledge made it even harder to endure.

Without realizing it, Seon-woo licked his dry lips, then shook his head and got to his feet. At the very least, he could show Hyeon-chae around the ski resort before the lesson started.

“Let’s go out. Just watch TV or something for a bit. I’ll take a quick shower.”

As he was stepping into the bathroom with a towel slung over his shoulder, the doorbell suddenly rang. Both of them turned their heads toward the entrance at the same time.

“Is today some kind of special occasion or what?”

Muttering in curiosity as he made his way to the door, Nam Seon-woo suddenly froze at the sound of a voice pounding against it.

“Hey! Nam Seon-woo! We’re here, open up! Nam Seon-woo!”

It was Nam Jun-woo.

Rushing to the peephole, Seon-woo checked outside—and immediately stiffened when he saw his parents standing behind Jun-woo.

His gaze snapped to Eun Hyeon-chae in alarm.

“Sunbae……?”

“We heard from Hwang Dong-jin that you don’t have morning lessons today. Hurry up and open the door.”

“Nam Seon-woo!”

That was his father’s voice, loud and clearly irritated.

There was no way he could pretend he wasn’t home.

Without hesitation, Seon-woo grabbed Hyeon-chae’s luggage with one arm, seized his wrist with the other, and swiftly shoved him into the bedroom.

“It’s my parents and my older brother. I’ll send them away quickly, so just wait inside for a bit. If they see you here……well, maybe not my brother, but my dad will recognize you right away as Simjin’s youngest. It’s better if you stay out of sight.”

“……Alright. Don’t worry about me.”

“Sorry.”

After shutting the bedroom door behind him, Seon-woo quickly stuffed Hyeon-chae’s shoes into the cabinet before opening the front door.

“Hey! Nam—!”

“Nam Jun-woo. Keep it down.”

He turned to his parents, keeping his voice level.

“……Father, Mother. What brings you here?”