Chapter 60

"Hey, you... Even if you do, you can't just use your wrist like that, can you?"

"There's no problem with using my arm."

"Wait until you see the scars."

"It's fine, right? If it wasn't, Cha Seo-un would have felt a lot of guilt, wouldn't he?"

"What, even guilt..."

Seo-un stopped speaking mid-sentence.

"Hey, I can't believe it, but did cutting your wrist have anything to do with me?"

Cha Haya awkwardly smiled, as if realizing something. He had just remembered the excuse he had made about cutting himself to wake up from a hallucination.

"Did I... cut your wrist?"

Seo-un put down his beer and moistened his lips with his tongue.

"With a rat's strength?"

Seo-un felt a bit relieved at the absurdity of the idea. Still, he didn't drop his suspicious gaze, so Cha Haya added:

"It's a bit tricky to handle elements, so I ended up burning the horror mansion. When I tried to solve your burns, my hand froze."

Cha Haya took Seo-un's hand with his cold left hand and then made a gesture of cutting his wrist with the other hand.

Since you were out of it anyway, I just cut your wrist...

Seo-un, feeling guilty, gently stroked the faint scar that remained. It was probably the best he could do at the time. Yet, he had only criticized him for being reckless.

"Still, I'm glad you're okay."

Cha Haya watched Seo-un's gentle touch on his wrist with a steady gaze. It felt ticklish, as if his fingertips had tiny feathers. He whispered by Seo-un's pillow:

"If it wasn't okay, Cha Seo-un would have to fix my hand. Or, would he just stay away again?"

"What are you talking about, kid? Of course, I'd find a way to fix it."

With a serious look, as if trying to figure out how to remove the scar, Cha Haya just watched Seo-un.

"How to fix it?"

"Are you going to keep saying obvious things? Doesn't your mouth hurt?"

"I'm masturbating with my left hand."

Seo-un, taken aback, pressed his wrist as if checking his pulse. He quickly looked up at Cha Haya, as if to confirm he had heard correctly.

"It's really important to have strength and speed. I almost cried when it didn't move like before?"

Cha Haya found Seo-un's dazed reaction amusing and added:

"...Is that really important to you?"

"What do you mean? Wow, Cha Seo-un. You said you'd fix it, but you're changing your mind so quickly."

Seo-un let go of his wrist.

"You should fix it yourself. What are you doing with your right hand? You're making weird statements."

Seo-un wiped the beer that had dripped onto his chin while drinking it. Damn, you're making a fuss over nothing, and it's so hot. He shook the bottom of his shirt.

"Why are you so flustered? Maybe you..."

Cha Haya's gaze had already reached Seo-un's lower body.

"Are you hard? It's normal, you know?"

"Cute kid, why are you getting so worked up?"

Seo-un's cheeks, as smooth as his forehead, were flushed. This constant teasing was entirely Seo-un's fault.

"Not everyone talks about which hand they use, you know?"

"Is Cha Seo-un left-handed or right-handed?"

Cha Haya playfully asked, lifting Seo-un's hands. Since Cha Haya was sitting at the table, Seo-un's arms were stretched out.

"Stop it?"

"Oh, are you ambidextrous?"

Seo-un tried to pull his body away, but Cha Haya also stood up. Cha Haya's chin was right in front of his nose, and their bodies were pressed together.

"Are you really ambidextrous?"

Seo-un shouted at Cha Haya, who kept pulling his arms up and closer.

"Crazy bastard! Right hand!"

Seo-un quickly pulled his right hand away and shut his mouth. Then, like a puppet with its strings cut, his shoulders drooped.

"...I'm going to bed, I'm sleepy."

He weakly shook his left arm, which was still held.

"You're sleepy?"

Although he was evasive, if he held on, he might get burned all over his body faster than in the horror mansion. Seo-un's whole body was already flushed red. If he pushed further, Seo-un would probably say it was because of the alcohol. It's not like a kid would be so embarrassed about masturbation.

Cha Haya let go of Seo-un's right hand, which had been heating up his own. He was surprised at how he almost grabbed it again when the warmth disappeared.

Seo-un put the remaining beer on the table and turned around.

Cha Haya looked at Seo-un's red neck. Seo-un, who had been pretending to walk slowly, turned back slightly.

"There's a quilt in the guest room."

Anyway, amidst all this, he had taken care of everything. Seo-un, who couldn't stand someone badmouthing his people, was the reason the other guild members stuck around him.

Seo-un was looking at the tightly closed door.

[Want to talk a bit?]

Cha Haya looked at his phone, which had a message, only moving his eyes.

[I didn't save your number, but I have a guess.]

Cha Haya switched the empty beer can with the one Seo-un had left. The spot where Seo-un's lips had touched was still damp.

He licked the remaining beer with his tongue and drank the rest.

***

Yeonji-geon, sitting on the edge of the fountain, sniffed. Even after becoming a Manseongjong, his rhinitis didn't easily go away, especially at night.

The guy who said he would come out hadn't shown a single hair after 15 minutes.

Knowing Cha Haya's personality, Yeonji-geon had felt defeated after waiting for 30 minutes after suggesting they meet. Maybe he came out earlier and went back in? He didn't think that logically. Cha Haya was walking out slowly, yawning.

He was even holding a beer can. Seeing only one can, he grumbled, "Of course, it's just for you."

"Did you wait long?"

"I just came out."

"Oh, for you, 'just now' is over 10 minutes."

"Did you watch me come out?"

Yeonji-geon spoke magnanimously but cursed with his eyes. He was surprised by Cha Haya's unexpected consideration.

"I just guessed."

Yeonji-geon's expression hardened, not wanting to lose to Cha Haya's nonchalance.

"Did you only bring beer for yourself? Try to be more social, okay?"

"It's not mine."

"Oh, then it's mine?"

When he reached out, Cha Haya openly drank the beer.

"Seo-un took it out of the fridge, so it's Seo-un's."

Yeonji-geon, as the senior, suppressed his annoyance.

"You were so eager to find the guild leader who went offline that you even opened trash cans in the Underworld, and you finally found him?"

"Seo-un doesn't like dirty things, so he doesn't go into trash cans. They're high-class."

He pointed to a high-rise apartment, elongating his words.

"Did you hear the story?"

"Most of it."

Although he told Seo-un not to believe it, Cha Haya didn't think Yeonji-geon was lying.

"Does the Union think they've lost their minds? Are they really planning to fight?"

"Those guys are annoying, so I quit too. I want to join your guild now."

"We don't accept elemental types."

"Because they're hard to manage?"

"No, because Yeonji-geon is not good."

"Isn't your guild leader a swordsman now?"

Unlike Yeonji-geon, who was sitting, Cha Haya stood and drank his beer. Yeonji-geon, ready to stab Cha Haya with his tongue, faced the unflappable Cha Haya.

"Everyone thought Cha Seo-un was the top tier, so they let it slide, but a few of us, like me, are probably suspicious. Your eyes aren't of any type, so even if you're irregular, Cha Seo-un is clearly purple. Purple is originally a mental type."

Cha Haya smirked, calling it a ridiculous statement.

"Then what about Seo-un carrying a sword and hunting all this time? Boring. Did you call me just to say this?"

"The rumor that your guild, Tachun, caught a lot of variants has spread."

When using the gate, the guild members paid a month's worth of premium stones, but it could be considered stones they already had.

"DK Kim Han-sol said that they found a tunnel generating variants in their area by chance, and Tachun helped them deal with it. Is that all a lie? They were hogging the tunnel and got caught by you?"

"Why do you want to join a guild with no members left?"

"Money-hee, Kang-san, and Yoo-chan all agreed to my joining, so you just need to recommend me."

"Seo-un will oppose it anyway."

"Then you should spread the rumor that your guild leader re-awakened as a mental type."

Cha Haya's face became expressionless.

"Is that true?"

Yeonji-geon looked at Cha Haya, as if to confirm his words.

"If you could detect the variant tunnel in the northwest, you must be a great talent. Even O-seong Seo-che wouldn't be able to do that. Let me join too."

Since he was openly asking to join, he must have been firmly disliked after leaving the Union.

"What will you do if I recommend you?"

"Did you know that in ancient times, villages separated by water were connected by boats?"

"The villages were separated because of the water."

"Whatever, the sea also connects different countries, right?"

Water continuously flowed from the small vase of the statue standing in the center of the fountain. Yeonji-geon started to shape something with the water. Starting from the calves, then the thighs, and the torso, it was as if a creator was forming a person.

It was shorter than Cha Haya and had a transparent face that was strikingly beautiful. Except for slightly upturned eyes, the nose and lips were round and plump.

A water person, like Undine, stood looking at Cha Haya.

"Do you like him?"

Swoosh, the human form turned into water droplets and scattered. Cha Haya looked bored, as if he had heard a boring statement.

"Do you keep people you dislike as friends?"

Finding no reason to stay, Cha Haya turned around, saying he was leaving. Yeonji-geon blocked him, thinking his reaction was off.

"What? Is it not true?"

I find this amazing, Yeonji-geon tried to gauge Cha Haya's reaction. However, Cha Haya's indifference made him doubt his own perception.

"Just friends?"

"You keep fake friends."

"That's strange. That's you, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"The person who broke that site, it was you."

Cha Haya's threatening veins popped under his smiling face.

Indeed, Yeonji-geon smiled.

"Your guild leader wasn't it either?"