HFS 56

The next morning, despite falling asleep in a bad mood, Lee Cheong-hyeon woke up feeling refreshed. Perhaps because he had the wide bed all to himself, he seemed to have slept more comfortably than he did at home. Seo Hee-won never returned to the room last night. After lazily rolling around a bit longer, he got up to wash, and when he came out, his eyes met with Seo Hee-won, who was sitting on the living room sofa. Seo Hee-won greeted him cheerfully as if he had forgotten all about last night’s incident.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah. Thanks to someone, having the big bed all to myself was nice.”

“Really? That’s good.”

“Where did you sleep last night?”

“On the sofa in the computer room.”

“Must have been really uncomfortable.”

“Still more comfortable than sleeping next to you.”

After hearing that, Lee Cheong-hyeon stopped in his tracks, crossed his arms, and glared at Seo Hee-won. For someone who had slept on a sofa, Seo Hee-won looked in good shape. Lee Cheong-hyeon couldn’t understand why his neat appearance was so irritating.

“Why are you standing like that? Want me to make you some coffee?”

“…Yes, iced. Do we have any bread left?”

“Not drinking something warm today?”

“I’m still annoyed with you, so I need something cold.”

Lee Cheong-hyeon uncrossed his arms and approached Seo Hee-won with diminished intensity. To get coffee, he had to lower his tail to the homeowner. Though Seo Hee-won had claimed he didn’t eat breakfast, when Lee Cheong-hyeon made toast, he ate it well enough, pretending to be persuaded. After finishing breakfast and logging into the game, it was time to gather for boss practice. Everyone else was already logged in, but one person was missing.

[Guild] Jimni: Ah, I think Woo-jin oppa is still sleeping ㅡㅡ

[Guild] Heekkom: I was a bit worried…

[Guild] Ittorang: I’ll go ahead and call him.

When they saw him at the meetup, Kang Woo-jin had seemed like someone who enjoyed sleeping in. Lee Cheong-hyeon had originally worried whether he could wake up in the morning after gaming late, and his concerns proved true. As he was searching for Kang Woo-jin’s number in his contacts, he heard Seo Hee-won complaining beside him.

“Why are you calling him?”

“Does it matter who calls? We need to wake him up.”

“Let me do it. What’s Kang Woo-jin’s number?”

“How are you going to call when you don’t even know his number? I’ve already dialed. And you should call him Woojin hyung.”

When he scolded Seo Hee-won for his lack of manners, Won Hee-won made a disgusted face.

“I only call someone hyung if they act like one.”

“…Then, in the past, when you refused to call me hyung…”

“…I call you hyung well enough now.”

“Are you calling me Lee Cheong-hyeon behind my back?”

“…”

Seo Hee-won ever so subtly avoided his gaze. While they were bickering, Kang Woo-jin still hadn’t answered the phone. Suddenly, Seo Hee-won snatched the phone from Lee Cheong-hyeon’s hand. While copying Kang Woo-jin’s number into his own phone, he made an uneasy expression.

“I feel like he’ll be upset if he answers.”

Saying that, he put the phone down at a distance and made the call on speakerphone. Shortly after the dial tone started, it abruptly ended. Kang Woo-jin had clearly pressed the end call button.

“He hung up?”

Seo Hee-won’s voice was full of menace right then and there. Just as he was about to call again, a message notification sounded in the group chat.

Kang Woo-jin: I’m sorry ㅠㅠㅠ I overslept.

Kang Woo-jin: I’m coming right now ㅠㅠ

While Kang Woo-jin had been sleeping soundly when Lee Cheong-hyeon called, he seemed to have woken up immediately at Seo Hee-won’s call. Kang Woo-jin, who hurriedly logged into the game, kept apologizing.

[Guild] Tiramisush: ㅜㅜ Sorry

[Guild] Ittorang: It’s okay, it’s okay.

[Guild] Ittorang: Just get on Discord first.

[Guild] Tiramisush: Okay ㅜㅜ

[Guild] Tiramisush: I was so scared ㅜ when I saw Seo-hee’s name on my phone.

[Guild] Tiramisush: My heart rate hit 160.

[Guild] Jimni: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Tiramisush: I think I’m getting trauma from this.

[Guild] Tiramisush: I won’t be able to receive wake-up calls for the rest of my life ㅜ

[Guild] Seohee1: ㅋㅋ Congratulations ^^

“How does it feel to become someone’s trauma?”

“Not really my business.”

“What’s your problem…”

If Seo Hee-won treated others with even half the attitude he showed toward Lee Cheong-hyeon, it wouldn’t be something people would talk about elsewhere, but since Lee Cheong-hyeon didn’t want to encourage such behavior, he held his tongue. After much trouble, they finally gathered and moved to the dungeon entrance. It looked like today would be another long day.

“Is everyone ready?”

“What? Ittorang, did you go to Seo Hee-won’s place this morning?”

When Lee Cheong-hyeon’s voice was heard through Seo Hee-won’s voice chat account, Kang Woo-jin asked in surprise.

[Party] Heekkom: Didn’t you just stay over? You were both logged in together this morning.

“That’s right, I didn’t go home. It was late, and I was tired.”

“What? You two spent the night together?”

[Party] Hyutzzi: Shocked

“Why are you reacting like that? It’s not like it’s the first time.”

“What? Spending the night together is something you’ve done more than once?”

[Party] Jimni: Shocked

“No, we slept together at the meetup too…”

“What? I had no idea such things were happening in that room…”

[Party] Heekkom: Shocked

No matter what he said, the suggestive responses made him burst into laughter out of disbelief. Meanwhile, Seo Hee-won beside him had a face so rigid he seemed angry.

“Are they crazy…I’ll tell them to stop.”

Hearing his stiff voice, Lee Cheong-hyeon glanced at him cautiously, and Seo Hee-won typed something brief in the chat.

[Party] Seohee1: Everyone stop it ^///^

[Party] Jimni: You crazy bastard lol lol lol

Yoo Ji-min’s hearty laughter could be heard. Seeing Seo Hee-won shamelessly use an emoticon that didn’t suit him at all made Lee Cheong-hyeon laugh again, and Seo Hee-won gradually laughed too.

“Okay, that’s enough now. You’re making my baby embarrassed.”

“Alright~ Are you staying there again today?”

“Well, I only have afternoon classes tomorrow…But since Hee-won slept on the sofa yesterday, I was thinking of telling him to just sleep comfortably by himself rather than doing that again.”

“I told you it’s fine. Stay over.”

“I wasn’t talking to you. No, Woojin, listen. Yesterday, when we were sleeping side by side, my leg brushed against him? And he looked at me like I was some kind of germ and stormed out.”

“If only you had stayed still…”

“Be quiet. Does this make any sense to you?”

Cutting off Seo Hee-won’s attempted rebuttal, he appealed his unresolved grievance to Kang Woo-jin.

“Ah, I understand why he did that.”

“What is it? Why did he act like that?”

“Why are you so clueless? He’s playing hard to get!”

“Oh, is that it? It’s no wonder he seemed so anxious…”

“Bwahaha!”

Unable to bear it any longer, Seo Hee-won reached out and turned off the microphone. He turned to Lee Cheong-hyeon and spoke as if warning him.

“Keep this up and you might actually end up sleeping with me.”

At those words, Lee Cheong-hyeon just widened his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. He only thought, what are you going to do if you threaten me?

“We really need to start practicing now.”

Hearing Hyojung’s voice from the voice chat app, he belatedly snapped back to reality and looked forward. Until then, Seo Hee-won had just been glaring at Lee Cheong-hyeon with ominous eyes.

* * *

Lee Cheong-hyeon was satisfied with his game class and even felt proud of it. Even though Doom Slayer was ranked #1 on the list of classes beginners should never play, and even though a post titled “Raiding Without One DPS vs. Taking a Doom Slayer” would spark heated debates with over a thousand comments split down the middle, he believed that if the player enjoyed it, that was enough. Moreover, after joining Seo Hee-won’s guild and showing various achievements, he was contributing to improving the perception of Doom Slayers, so he was overflowing with affection for his class.

If there was one moment when Lee Cheong-hyeon hated this class, it would be in situations like now.

Lee Cheong-hyeon was hit by Artilens swinging one wing and was pushed far back. Classes that need to stay close to attack have the disadvantage of being vulnerable to such melee attacks. To make matters worse, a large red area appeared where he had been knocked back to. It meant it was dangerous to stand there. Having already been hit once and pushed back, it was certain he would die if attacked again.

“Ah, please.”

“Hyung, I…”

“Ittorang! I’ll protect you!”

Seo Hee-won’s voice was drowned out by Kang Woo-jin’s shout. Kang Woo-jin’s skill hit Lee Cheong-hyeon precisely. It wasn’t as much healing as Seo Hee-won would provide, but it was enough to survive one turn. After taking one hit and escaping the danger zone, Lee Cheong-hyeon responded gratefully, “Nice, Misuki! That heal was great.”

“Hoho…This is me. The ace who will lead our party to victory…”

“You’re so cool. I might fall for you.”

Misuki was Kang Woo-jin’s new nickname. His username “Tiramisush” had gradually transformed from “Misuh” to finally become “Misuki.” At first, he disliked it for being a female name, but he seemed to have adapted and now responded well when called Misuki.

As Lee Cheong-hyeon enthusiastically played along, he felt a disapproving gaze from beside him. Sensing that Seo Hee-won seemed to have something to say, he muted the microphone and asked, “What?”

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing? You were looking at me strangely. What is it?”

“Just…thought you’re quite loose.”

“What?”

He doubted his ears, wondering if he had heard correctly. This was another first. Moreover, he never expected to hear such words from another man, especially while gaming. Seo Hee-won’s expression made it impossible to tell if he was joking or serious.

“Why do you say things like you might fall for someone just because they gave you some healing?”

“I just meant I was grateful!”

“Why express gratitude like that? What if someone misunderstands?”

“It’s weirder if someone misunderstands because of something like that.”

“…Says the one who’s been flirting around first.”

“You, what kind of way is that to talk to your hyung?”