HG Ch 15

<15>

It hurts.

“Sori-nim! Are you alright?”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Move aside! I’ll help Sori-nim!”

“You bastard, what are you talking about? I’ll be the one to help Sol-nim!”

Amidst the commotion, none of the words registered properly.

Eunho stared blankly ahead. In a way, it had been easier when everything was just despair. Accepting the fact that there had been a way, yet he had foolishly let it slip through his fingers, was far more painful.

Hope… I had hope?

Wasn’t it said that the cruelest thing for a prisoner was the faint sunlight seeping through the cracks of their cell? It was more agonizing now than when he had given up on everything and lived without a care.

There was something called hope in my life, and I let it slip away…

He didn’t even have the strength to close the system window. His legs gave out, and with a thud, he collapsed onto the ground, assuming a crawling position as he whimpered.

“Ughhh, why did I have to be so stubborn…? I should’ve just clung to him the moment I felt something was off. What if… What if I never see him again? What am I supposed to do with my life then?”

Was this what it felt like to have your head shaved in preparation for military enlistment? His thoughts tangled in a mess, and then, like a dam breaking, his tears spilled out. The sorrow was unbearable. Having perfectly reverted from a <Beauty That Can Overthrow Nations>-obsessed lunatic back into a regular person, Eunho now looked like an abandoned country dog as he broke down in tears.

As expected, the sight of the most beautiful person in the world crying caused quite a stir among his Royal Guards. They frantically tried to comfort him, but all it did was pile onto his stress rather than alleviate it.

To make matters worse, just as Eunho lifted his tear-streaked face, another damn system window popped up.

Ding!

[SYSTEM] Even when the renowned beauty Xi Shi of the Yue Kingdom furrowed her brows in pain, she was praised for her elegance. Due to the effects of the passive trait <Beauty That Can Overthrow Nations>, your jewel-like tears stir deep emotions in those who see them, awakening their sadistic instincts.

At that moment, the guards instantly changed their attitude, as if they’d never tried to comfort or sympathize with Joo Eunho’s sorrow in the first place.

“…But Sori hyung, doesn’t your crying face look kinda… seductive?”

“Such exquisite beauty…”

“Haah, just look at those cheeks, glistening with tears. Absolutely mesmerizing.”

God, he hated this.

Did he really have to keep living among these creepy lunatics, forced to face them every day? Surrounded by men whose first instinct, upon seeing another man, was to call him seductive, beautiful, and mesmerizing? Eunho despaired endlessly at his own wretched fate.

And at that moment—

“So crowded.”

A low voice swept past the back of his neck. Drowsy, like the languid growl of a half-asleep animal. A voice he had grown all too familiar with.

Hope! My hope has returned!

Eunho’s face lit up. If he had a tail, it would be wagging like a propeller. He didn’t even care that d20524 had just mimicked Green Narae’s tone to mock him. The moment he turned, beaming—

“…Hyung, kgh!“

“Yeah, yeah, I get that you’re happy to see me.”

“Just stay still for a second.”

Murmuring softly, d20524 roughly grabbed Eunho by the collar and, with his other hand, swung his spear in a wide arc. The guards instinctively stepped back to avoid the attack, creating just enough distance between them and Eunho, exactly the length of the spear. Only then did the grip on Eunho’s collar finally loosen.

Now free, Eunho coughed harshly, but his eyes gleamed with joy. He looked like a devout believer on the verge of salvation.

“Cough, cough… sniff… Hyuung-nim! You really came to save me! I knew you would!”

Meanwhile, d20524, who had pushed Eunho aside with the shaft of his spear as if shaking off the dust, tilted his head.

“How many?”

“Huh?”

“Those guys. How many have you seduced so far?”

Eunho understood the question’s intent, but it felt a bit awkward to sincerely answer, “Yes, sir! As of now, I have successfully seduced a total of twenty-four people!”

I mean, saying it like that made it sound like he had done it on purpose.

But I swear, I never intended to seduce anyone. I was just born with this godforsaken <Beauty That Can Overthrow Nations> trait, and now I’m stuck in this mess. It’s so unfair.

Feeling inexplicably self-conscious, Eunho raised two fingers on his left hand and four on his right.

When he grinned sheepishly, d20524 smiled back. It was definitely a smile, yet looking at it sent chills down Eunho’s spine.

“Not even twenty yet, and already such a little flirt…”

Only then did Eunho realize that to d20524, his fingers could have been read as 4 and 2, meaning forty-two. He hurriedly corrected himself.

“It’s not forty-two. It’s twenty-four.”

d20524’s cold smile deepened.

“Oh? So it’s only twenty-four and not forty-two, and you’re upset that I’m calling you a flirt? How unfair for you.”

“……”

Leaving Eunho standing there like an abandoned sack of grain, d20524 stared into the air as if checking something visible only to him. Then, he spoke.

“Things are more messed up than I expected.”

He continued talking after that, but everything blurred into white noise, filtering out before reaching Eunho’s ears. After muttering to himself for a while, frowning as he pieced things together, he finally turned back to Eunho and continued.

“You’ve got a partner quest now, right? Assign me as your Sworn Companion immediately. That’ll get rid of those nuisances.”

The way he gave orders was so natural, as if he had done it his whole life.

Because of that, Eunho almost nodded instinctively, the way he sometimes did when stepping into a trendy clothing store and getting swept up by a smooth-talking salesperson. But he snapped himself out of it just in time.

First, he needed to ask the most important question.

“They won’t cling to me anymore? If I do that Sworn Companion thing, will my weird trait disappear too?”

“Weird trait?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you mean?”

How was he supposed to explain this? Now that he had come to his senses, Eunho found that he could no longer bring himself to say <Beauty That Can Overthrow Nations> out loud.

After hesitating for a moment, he finally spoke, his face burning with embarrassment.

“E-Every man falls in love with me.”

“……”

“I’m not joking. It’s real.”

“……”

The man neither laughed nor looked exasperated. He simply stood there, silent. That made Eunho even more embarrassed. Unable to endure the awkwardness, Eunho was the first to speak again.

“…Hyung-nim, so about that.”

“Hm?”

“When you look at me now… Do you feel your heart racing or fluttering or anything like that? Even thoughts like ‘He’s kind of unique’ or ‘He seems interesting’ I’d say those are pretty dangerous, too.”

The man seemed to debate how to respond before settling on looking openly exhausted.

“Just assign me as Sworn Companion.”

It really seemed like he felt nothing.

“But still…”

Could he really trust this guy? Once he assigned someone as his companion, he wouldn’t be able to change it.

Right now, d20524 was listed as someone who couldn’t be chosen as a partner, but who knew what might happen? It wasn’t like the system hadn’t blindsided him before.

「O child. He does not seem to be compatible with you. 」

But the butterfly, who was basically in cahoots with the system, was actively trying to dissuade him… That made it somewhat tempting.

Eunho, whose trust in both the butterfly and the system was already at absolute zero, pretended to seriously consider the decision.

“…Look at you, acting like you suddenly have the luxury to be picky.”

When Eunho flinched and looked up, the man smirked.

Damn. The guy was sharp as hell.

Eunho’s eyes wavered slightly. Since he had no real excuse, he simply flashed a sheepish grin.

“I mean, can you blame me? I know nothing about you. Of course, I’d be curious about who you are, and naturally, I’d worry that you might be, well… weird. Hyung-nim, don’t you wonder about me, too? Like, my name, my age—”

Wait. Hold on.

Mid-sentence, Eunho abruptly shut his mouth.

Come to think of it… This guy had said something earlier.

—”Not even twenty yet, and already such a little flirt…”

Eunho furrowed his brows and stared at the man.

“How did you know I’m not an adult? This is an 18+ game.”

The man appeared to consider something for a moment before shrugging. His reply was short and brutally honest.

“You don’t turn me on.”

“…Ah. Okay… Wait, what? What?! WHAT?!”

“I like men. But you don’t turn me on at all. Satisfied?”

If he had taken a moment to think about it, he would’ve realized what a blatant fallacy that was.

But Eunho didn’t have the luxury to do so.

He was too shocked by the realization that yet another man he had briefly trusted… was also gay.

…So this really is a world where every single man is into men.

As Eunho instinctively took a step back, the man’s expression turned ice-cold.

“Keep backing away like that. Maybe it’s just my fetish, but… that’s kind of turning me on.”

At those words, Eunho obediently returned to his spot.