HSF 63
by Sorai“Are you going to sleep?”
“Yeah.”
Lee Cheong-hyeon told himself he wouldn’t sleep at this house again, but as time passed, that resolve faded. Even though Seo Hee-won drove him home, it was a pain to play games until dawn and then travel again early the next morning. Plus, Lee Cheong-hyeon warned Seo Hee-won that if he did anything suspicious, he’d go straight home.
“Can’t we watch a movie together before we sleep?”
“It’s already one a.m.”
“It’s only one a.m.”
Compared to when raid practice usually ended, it wasn’t that late, but watching a movie would easily take up two hours. It might be nice to watch one after a long time. While he was thinking about it, Seo Hee-won tempted Lee Cheong-hyeon.
“I have popcorn and nachos too.”
“Nachos…It would be nice to have them with a can of beer.”
“I have canned beer too.”
Lee Cheong-hyeon slyly poked his face out from under the blanket. Seo Hee-won smiled brightly when their eyes met. When Lee Cheong-hyeon walked into the living room in his pajamas, Seo Hee-won brought out the snacks. He settled into the corner of the sofa, but Seo Hee-won insisted on sitting right next to Lee Cheong-hyeon, despite the wide space.
“Move away.”
“…”
Seo Hee-won glared at him resentfully and moved a little to the side. He accepted the can of beer that Seo Hee-won offered. The lid popped open with a cheerful sound. Meanwhile, Seo Hee-won used the TV to access an OTT service and searched for a movie he had picked out in advance. It’s obviously going to be a romance movie, he thought, taking a sip of beer. Among the many movie posters, Seo Hee-won chose one that was generally dark with red lettering and a person looking terrified.
“You want to watch that?”
“Yeah. It looks fun, right?”
“…How about something else? Don’t you want to watch a romance movie or something?”
“Not really, all the good movies happened to be horror movies.”
“It doesn’t look fun. Let’s watch something else.”
“I really want to watch this.”
Seo Hee-won smiled and shook his head. Lee Cheong-hyeon liked all kinds of movies, but he didn’t want to watch horror movies. He couldn’t understand why people would pay money to be scared. Lee Cheong-hyeon, who had lost his desire to watch a movie, grabbed his can of beer and subtly got up to his feet.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m suddenly a little tired, so I’m going to sleep first.”
“Ah—right. Hyung can’t watch scary stuff, can he?”
“No? What are you talking about? I watch them just fine.”
“Well, you get scared during raids, how could hyung watch a horror movie?”
“When did I get scared? I was just a little surprised then.”
“Then let’s watch it together.”
“It’s not that I’m scared, I’m just really tired.”
“I knew it…You’re chickening out.”
“…”
“I’ve never seen anyone as scared as hyung. It’s amazing.”
“…”
“Ahem, ahem! Coward….”
“Hey, put it on right now.”
He couldn’t stand being called a coward after Seo Hee-won pretended to clear his throat. Lee Cheong-hyeon, baited by Seo Hee-won’s teasing, plopped back down on the sofa. Seo Hee-won grinned and pressed the play button. He quenched his parched throat with beer. Seeing this, Seo Hee-won reached for the remaining canned beer, as if to drink some himself. Lee Cheong-hyeon immediately snatched the beer away.
“I’m more scared of you drinking than the movie.”
Seo Hee-won couldn’t say anything and averted his gaze at the words spoken with a smile. Lee Cheong-hyeon looked ahead with a satisfied feeling. Lee Cheong-hyeon had lived thinking that it wasn’t that he couldn’t watch scary things, but that he didn’t watch them. He thought he could watch a horror movie if he wanted to, but his expression soon stiffened. He tried to avoid watching as much as possible by pretending to drink beer to block his vision and looking at the screen with magic eye, but there were things he couldn’t help but see. Moreover, there was no way to subtly block the sound effects that heightened one’s sense of fear, so he had to listen to the movie’s scary sounds the entire time.
“Should I hold your hand?”
“No.”
“Do you want to lean on me?”
“No.”
“If you’re that scared, I can hug you…”
“No.”
Seo Hee-won clicked his tongue. Regardless, Lee Cheong-hyeon was busy fighting with himself. There are no ghosts in the world. This is fiction. There’s no need to be scared, he repeated, trying to chase away the fear. Seo Hee-won, displeased with being ignored, changed his strategy.
“Hyung, aren’t you scared?”
“Yeah. It’s boring….”
“I think I’m a little scared….”
He glanced over at Seo Hee-won’s show of weakness. In the dark living room, where all the lights were turned off to watch the movie, only the faint light from the TV illuminated Seo Hee-won’s face. He felt triumphant at the sight of Seo Hee-won admitting he was scared first, after calling Lee Cheong-hyeon a coward.
“Seo Hee-won is a scaredy-cat….”
“I’m scared, so if you hold my hand….”
“No way.”
Seo Hee-won, whose plan didn’t work out, sat with a sulky expression until the end of the movie. Regardless, Lee Cheong-hyeon ended up watching the horror movie until the end. He was so tense that his whole body was stiff after the movie ended. He only intended to drink one can of beer, but somehow he ended up drinking three.
“See? I’m not afraid of ghosts.”
“Yeah. Congratulations, now go to sleep.”
“Okay. Good night.”
Lee Cheong-hyeon, who came out after brushing his teeth, lay back down on Hee-won’s bed. It had been agreed that Lee Cheong-hyeon would sleep in the bed and Seo Hee-won would sleep on the sofa. When he turned off the lights and lay down, the room was as quiet as if not even an ant was passing by. Now all he had to do was fall asleep, but the scary scenes from the movie kept popping into his head.
He tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep, when he heard a click and the door opened. Startled, he looked up and saw Seo Hee-won slowly appearing in front of the door, which seemed to have no one standing there. Seo Hee-won, holding a pillow in his arms, tried to make the most pitiful and harmless expression possible.
“Can’t I sleep here?”
“No.”
“I’m scared to sleep alone….”
“How can you be twenty-one and say you can’t sleep alone because you’re scared? Stop acting and go to sleep.”
“Annoying.”
Seo Hee-won slammed the door shut and left. Lee Cheong-hyeon, left alone again, carefully covered himself with the blanket and closed his eyes. As soon as he closed his eyes, another scene from the movie came to mind. After not being able to fall asleep for a long time, Lee Cheong-hyeon finally picked up his phone.
[Come to the room.]
As soon as he sent the text to Seo Hee-won, the door opened again as if he had been waiting for it. Seo Hee-won came in with an expectant look on his face.
“Why?”
“…You said you were scared to sleep alone. Sleep here.”
At the words spoken as if doing a favor, Seo Hee-won smiled and tried to get on the bed.
“No, no! On the floor!”
Seo Hee-won, who was horrified, stopped him and got off the bed with a pout.
“You were sulking because I wouldn’t sleep next to you…”
“Is that the same as now?”
“Don’t you think you’re being too harsh on the homeowner?”
“…Then I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“It’s okay.”
Seo Hee-won grumbled but spread out a blanket on the floor next to the bed and lay down.
“Thank you for sleeping with someone who’s twenty-one and can’t sleep alone because they’re scared.”
“Yeah.”
“Will I be able to sleep alone like hyung when I’m twenty-three?”
“Probably.”
Having Seo Hee-won next to him made him feel a little more at ease. Lee Cheong-hyeon, who closed his eyes, was finally able to fall asleep. Before falling completely asleep, he suddenly thought that it wouldn’t be bad to live with Seo Hee-won like this. Looking back, if Seo Hee-won didn’t try to pull off ridiculous tricks, the time he spent with him was quite enjoyable. He even thought that he could continue to be with him like this if he didn’t like him.
***
These days, they were eating delivery food more often because they were saving time eating to practice boss raids. Lee Cheong-hyeon stared blankly at Seo Hee-won eating pizza. Recently, whenever Lee Cheong-hyeon saw Seo Hee-won, he only thought about how to make him stop liking him.
“Hee-won, what’s your ideal type?”
At the sudden question, Seo Hee-won tilted his head to one side, appearing to be quite puzzled. He even looked at him cautiously, which was rare, before answering in confusion.
“Are you really asking because you don’t know…?”
“…Just eat your pizza.”
It seemed like he had asked the wrong question. He thought that if Seo Hee-won had someone else he liked, their relationship could go back to the way it used to be. Lee Cheong-hyeon imagined Seo Hee-won dating someone else. Would he act the same way he did with him? He felt strangely uncomfortable. It suddenly dawned on him that the special treatment Seo Hee-won had given him was because he liked Lee Cheong-hyeon. The selfish thought that this specialness would be transferred to someone else made him dislike it.
He couldn’t figure out how to go back to the way things used to be on his own. Lee Cheong-hyeon called his friend Kim Minjae on a day when he didn’t have boss practice. He was planning to get some advice. At the same pork belly restaurant they had been to before, Kim Minjae looked at Lee Cheong-hyeon, who was grilling the meat, with displeasure.
“You want your guild member to stop liking you?”
“Yeah.”
“You keep pretending you don’t like him, but you really want him to not like you?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sometimes envious of your self-esteem. Usually, people would think they were mistaken.”
“No, I’m sure he likes me. Listen.”
When he tried to talk about Seo Hee-won, he didn’t know where to start. After thinking for a moment, Lee Cheong-hyeon opened his mouth. It seemed like it would be best to start from the beginning.