HFS 54

“Being with you means I get to eat a variety of foods, and even if it’s for a short time, I enjoy going out. The food today wasn’t as good as the usual fare we’re used to, but that’s okay too. It would be boring if we only went to restaurants with great food, right?”

At those words, Seo Hee-won stared at Lee Cheong-hyeon. In truth, Seo Hee-won simply wanted a proper date. These meal times with Lee Cheong-hyeon were the only moments when he felt treated as a human being rather than just a game character. The rest of the time, Lee Cheong-hyeon seemed to view him merely as a high-performing healer. Ruining this brief, precious free time with a terrible meal was too frustrating for words. Because of that damned game, he had far too little time to make advances on Lee Cheong-hyeon. As time passed without progress in their relationship, the game sometimes felt like an obstacle to Seo Hee-won, who now prioritized Lee Cheong-hyeon above everything else in his life.

“If you want to go to a cafe, let’s eat lunch quickly at home tomorrow and go. We can watch movies on Netflix at home, and we can even drive around while eating in the car. …Is it okay if food smells linger in the car?”

At that, Seo Hee-won nodded with a suddenly docile expression. Whenever Seo Hee-won made such a gentle face, Lee Cheong-hyeon felt an unusual satisfaction rising to the top of his head. It even felt like something inside him was tickling him. Only then did the two rise from their seats. As Lee Cheong-hyeon tried to pay, Seo Hee-won blocked him and offered up his own card instead. It was impossible to count how many times this had happened. Although Lee Cheong-hyeon usually covered Seo Hee-won’s food expenses as per their previous agreement, lately Seo Hee-won kept paying first.

“Why do you keep paying?”

“Shouldn’t you say ‘Thank you, Hee-won’? Geez.”

“Thank you, Hee-won. But really, why are you doing this?”

“I just want to pay.”

“Why?”

“Stop asking why.”

Seo Hee-won, who arbitrarily shut down the conversation, got into the car. Lee Cheong-hyeon kept quiet for a moment, but couldn’t stay silent for long.

“…Why?”

“Ugh…”

“But you used to ask me to buy you meals.”

“I don’t want to mooch off you anymore.”

“Why?”

“Stop asking and fasten your seatbelt.”

Seo Hee-won reached over and fastened Lee Cheong-hyeon’s seatbelt for him. Except for when he was a kid, no one had ever fastened Lee Cheong-hyeon’s seatbelt, so he was slightly taken aback. He even forgot what they were talking about.

“This is…new.”

“Did your heart flutter?”

After doing something that one would typically do for someone they’re interested in, Seo Hee-won laughed out loud. He seemed somewhat excited. Lee Cheong-hyeon recalled how Seo Hee-won had been naturally acting like a couple both in-game and in reality. He had thought it was all just a concept or joke, but this happened to be unusually excessive, even if he had to say so himself.

Could it be…?

Seo Hee-won had definitely changed somehow since the meetup. Besides fastening his seatbelt and insisting on paying for meals, there were other suspicious points. Lee Cheong-hyeon hadn’t taken public transportation for quite some time now. He used to take the bus or subway to and from Seo Hee-won’s place, but now that Seo Hee-won always drove him, there was no need for that.

Actions he had never thought deeply about came to mind one by one: claiming to be shy around strangers but then following closely behind him, acting as if nothing happened when the cold wind blew; taking him to expensive restaurants for no reason; and insisting on eating out no matter how little time they had. Amidst this vague feeling, one particular question arose.

“Why aren’t you shy around me?”

“Why are you suddenly asking that?”

“Just curious.”

Seo Hee-won tilted his head to one side at the random question. After silently pondering for a while, he spoke.

“I was shy. Don’t you remember at first?”

“When we first met up?”

Come to think of it, when they first met, Seo Hee-won acted unlike his in-game self, more like someone uncomfortable and awkward, Lee Cheong-hyeon remembered.

“Now that I think about it, you’re right…You couldn’t even make eye contact with me properly back then.”

“…It wasn’t that bad.”

“If you were that shy, why did you suggest meeting in person for the transaction? You were uncomfortable with other guild members even until the second time you met them.”

“That’s…I guess I grew fond of you because we fought so often.”

Lee Cheong-hyeon nodded in understanding. Recalling the days when they fought almost daily made sense. It was true that they had become unusually close compared to others, probably developing a love-hate relationship in the meantime.

And here I thought he might be interested in me. Lee Cheong-hyeon dismissed his suspicions, having had a thought that would make Seo Hee-won’s heart sink if he knew about it.

* * *

The practice for clearing Artilens continued without rest, but Lee Cheong-hyeon’s first day of the new semester arrived before they could reach the end. With his schedule filling up, practice time decreased, significantly reducing their chances of achieving the first clear. But since they couldn’t quit now, they decided to continue raiding by matching their schedules as best they could.

During a boring general education class, Lee Cheong-hyeon’s phone chimed with a notification. It turned out to be a photo from Seo Hee-won. The picture showed Lee Cheong-hyeon’s character, Ittorang, riding a red-shelled turtle. It was a mount obtainable through fishing—something Lee Cheong-hyeon had wanted but hadn’t had time to get because of boss practice. Lee Cheong-hyeon’s lips instantly curved into a smile reaching his ears.

Lee Cheong-hyeon: Hahaha, you didn’t have to go fishing for me.”

Seo Hee-won: I did it briefly, and it dropped.

Lee Cheong-hyeon: Thank you, I’ll come right after class ends today.

Seo Hee-won: What time does your class end?

Lee Cheong-hyeon: Six.

While Lee Cheong-hyeon was busy attending classes after the semester started, Seo Hee-won, who was taking time off from school, took care of Lee Cheong-hyeon’s account. He completed daily quests and dungeons, so when Lee Cheong-hyeon logged in, he only needed to do a few dungeons he couldn’t enter alone and raids, as everything else was already finished.

“Did you get a girlfriend?”

When Lee Cheong-hyeon wouldn’t put down his phone even while eating, constantly messaging Seo Hee-won, Kim Min-jae, sitting across from him, asked him this. Lee Cheong-hyeon glanced at him and shook his head.

“What girlfriend? I told you before, no.”

“Yeah right. You’re on your phone all day. Who is it?”

“Just a friend.”

“Stop lying! Who messages a friend all day?”

Despite Kim Min-jae’s teasing, Lee Cheong-hyeon kept his phone in hand all day. It couldn’t be helped since Seo Hee-won kept messaging whenever there was a break in conversation. After all his classes were over, as he was thinking about buying something to eat on his way to Seo Hee-won’s house, Seo Hee-won called.

“Where are you?”

“I just finished and am heading out right now.”

“Come to the back gate parking lot.”

“What? Where are you?”’

“Hurry up.”

The call ended abruptly. Hurrying to the parking lot, Lee Cheong-hyeon spotted a familiar car. Seo Hee-won rolled down the window and called out to him.

“Hyung!”

“What are you doing here? Why did you come?”

“I thought we could eat dinner out before heading back.”

Does he really need to come all the way to school to pick me up? Since Seo Hee-won’s house wasn’t far and it was convenient, Lee Cheong-hyeon simply nodded his head in agreement. After dinner, they headed straight to Seo Hee-won’s place and started the boss raid. To make up for the reduced practice time since the semester started, they continued practicing until late at night.

“Let’s stop here for today and meet again tomorrow at 10 a.m.”

“Good work, everyone. Sleep well, and see you in the morning.”

“Ah, I’m tired. Good work, everyone!”

“Sleep well, dream of me!”

Lee Cheong-hyeon groaned as he got up from his chair. His entire body felt stiff. Rubbing his tired eyes, he checked the time—it was already past 2 a.m. After stretching his body, he trudged over to the sofa bed behind him and collapsed on it.

Usually, gaming until this hour didn’t make him this tired, but having come after attending classes, he was completely exhausted. Tomorrow he had no classes, so practice was scheduled starting from morningtime. The last bus had long gone, and since he would be coming back tomorrow anyway, going back and forth seemed like a hassle. He typically went home even when it was late, but today he simply didn’t have the energy for it. Lee Cheong-hyeon closed his eyes and said while lying motionless, “I’m not going home today. Let me stay over.”

He heard the sound of someone exiting the voice chat from the computer. Raising his head to check, he saw that Seo Hee-won hadn’t left the voice chat room yet.

“Who was that?”

“Don’t know, didn’t see.”

“They won’t take it the wrong way, right?”

“This time it wasn’t intentional on my part.”

“Yeah. It’s fine, surely no one would really misunderstand…”

Fatigue took priority over such trivial matters. As he lay back down and closed his eyes, Seo Hee-won quietly approached.

“Are you really going to sleep over?”

“Yeah. Is that not okay?”

“Of course, it’s okay…Go ahead and sleep in the bedroom.”

“Oh…I didn’t expect you to give up your room.”

“It’s too cold to sleep out here.”

“Okay, thanks. Lend me something to sleep in, too.”

“I’ll bring it.”

“Underwear too?”

Having come straight to Seo Hee-won’s place after classes, he didn’t have any clothes to change into. Since Seo Hee-won was offering his room and clothes, Lee Cheong-hyeon thought he might give him underwear too, but Seo Hee-won left without answering, slamming the door shut. Wondering if asking for underwear was too much, Lee Cheong-hyeon gazed disappointedly at the closed door. Just before falling asleep again, Seo Hee-won returned to the room and handed over neatly folded clothes. Unfolding them, he saw a pajama set along with new, unopened underwear. Lee Cheong-hyeon accepted the clothes with a broad grin on his face.

“You were going to give them anyway. Why the attitude just now? By the way, can I shower first?”

Seo Hee-won stammered, appearing flustered as he replied, “What? Yes. Use the bathroom inside the room. And, you don’t need to ask about things like that.”

“Okay. Thanks.”