Chapter 65
"Would you like a snack?"
"No thanks."
Eunseong watched Dohyun shake his head but still set the bowl down next to the chair. Inside the bowl were cookies made as small as grains of rice, which he had requested from Choi Jaegen. Dohyun, who had been lying halfway on the bed with blankets spread out, unconsciously picked at the snacks before passing out cold.
Watching that sight quietly, Eunseong carefully opened his mouth.
"Hunter Seong Dohyun?"
Muttering very softly, quieter than a breath, Eunseong covered the sleeping Dohyun with a handkerchief. After shrinking, Dohyun would either sleep as if releasing all his accumulated fatigue at once, or when awake, he would fiddle with his hair and stare into space.
Watching this relaxed appearance that he couldn't usually see, Eunseong felt his mouth go dry. Swallowing dry saliva for no reason like that, he observed Dohyun who had fallen asleep while playing with his hair again today. Perhaps because he brushed his hair back when falling asleep, his black hair was a mess.
It was only after swallowing dry saliva several times that Eunseong could reach out his hand. When Eunseong carefully extended his index finger and arranged the messy hair, Dohyun frowned as if annoyed. Nevertheless, Eunseong, who carefully arranged it to the end with his fingertips, swallowed a sigh and curled his fingers into a fist.
It felt like his heart was beating at his fingertips.
Probably because he had suppressed the curse that constricted his heart.
Not even realizing how red his ears had become, Eunseong covered his mouth and caught his breath. Then he slowly rubbed his fingertips where Dohyun's hair had touched.
Something... tickled. He wanted to grab a handful of that smooth hair, and also wanted to mess it up thoroughly.
Then reach his hand down and grab the nape of the neck...
"Ah..."
Eunseong, who reflexively swallowed dry saliva, quickly turned his head away from Dohyun.
He was crazy. He was definitely crazy. How could he have such thoughts while looking at a sleeping person...
Eunseong covered his mouth with the back of his hand and forcefully held back his gaze that kept trying to return to Dohyun. But apparently that wasn't enough, and he eventually got up from the seat he'd been sitting in for hours and headed to the kitchen.
Choi Jaegen, who was preparing food, greeted Eunseong but then asked with a puzzled face.
"Are you hot?"
"Huh?"
"Your face is very red."
"Ah, haha..."
Letting out an awkward laugh and touching his cheek, Eunseong stopped putting Dohyun's food on a tray and looked down at his stiff lower half.
I'm really crazy, Baek Eunseong.
Eunseong grabbed his hair as if to tear it out and slumped down on the floor. Ever since he had that dream, he would get erections regardless of his will. No, whenever he looked at Dohyun—no, whenever he thought of Dohyun.
If it had stood up just a little more, he wouldn't have been able to pretend not to notice. Pressing the outline with his hand to somehow hide it, Eunseong entered the room to find Dohyun blinking his eyes open.
"You're awake?"
"Yeah..."
At that deeply lowered voice, he felt his suppressed erection twitch again. Quickly sitting down on the floor, Eunseong poured water into a small cup. Watching him receive and drink the water he handed over without suspicion, an outrageous thought crossed his mind.
If he kept Dohyun at home like this and tended to his every need as he was doing now, wouldn't he also be satisfied and stay at home forever?
"Hey."
Eunseong, who had been worrying about how to keep Dohyun, snapped out of it at the sensation of cold water being splashed on him and shuddered. When he summoned a golem to check the surroundings, Dohyun was standing at an angle, looking up at him.
"When is Baek Jiseong coming out?"
Baek Jiseong. Rolling his older brother's name around in his mouth, Eunseong bit his lip at an inexplicable displeasure.
The fact that Dohyun was calling someone else's name... was extremely displeasing. Eunseong hung his head with a confused face, then raised it at the snap! of fingers.
"Focus."
"Ah... He'll probably come out in 3 to 4 days."
"Do you think Baek Hamin can find a way to release the skill within that time?"
At Dohyun's question, Eunseong let the corners of his mouth droop and averted his gaze. Hamin, like himself, wouldn't want Dohyun to leave the house, so it was obvious he would pretend not to know even if he knew the method.
Choosing his words carefully in his mouth, Eunseong cautiously spoke.
"Hamin... seems to be afraid that you'll leave."
"Is that so."
"Hamin also follows you very much. Do you have any intention of making a formal contract like this?"
"No."
* * *
"I have no intention of making a formal contract."
I could see Baek Eunseong looking flustered at my blunt answer.
I set down the cup I was holding and started ruffling my hair. They say human hair is about a hundred thousand strands, but I never thought I'd be confirming it like this. After scratching my head to the point where my scalp stung, I looked over at Baek Eunseong, who was puffing out his lips sullenly.
"Once Baek Jiseong returns, things will go back to the way they were. I have no intention of joining anywhere, and I'll continue to stay unaffiliated."
"Why..."
"It's my choice."
Ignoring Baek Eunseong who was staring at me intently, I fumbled with my hair as Ashil pulled the thread.
It would be easier to enter dungeons if I joined a guild or organization, but staying unaffiliated was better. That way, it would be easier to adapt when 'Seong Dohyun' returned later.
Still, I was using this body fairly responsibly, but I wondered what state my body in the original world was in. Would it be in a condition that's easy to adapt to when I return? If something went wrong, I might be locked up in some psychiatric hospital.
I don't know. I'd adapt on my own, so I wanted to return to the original world as soon as possible.
As for this body after that, well, 'Seong Dohyun' or whoever could use it as they pleased. The collapsed story would also flow on its own. A new incident could occur and things could return to the original story, right?
Blankly thinking various thoughts while picking at my hair, I looked at Baek Eunseong who was still guarding my side.
"Why?"
"...Then our contract..."
"We have to maintain that."
It didn't take much effort to suppress the curse, just a flick of the hand was enough. In return, I could receive dungeon byproducts, so I had no intention of letting such a sucker go.
"While I'm at it, give me your hand."
When I reached out my hand, Baek Eunseong placed his fingers on my palm.
Hmm? What's this. The curse is calmer than usual? Did I suppress the curse before? Tilting my head, I spoke like a sigh.
"I don't need byproducts, so try to persuade Baek Hamin."
"I can't overcome Hamin's stubbornness either. Instead... is there anything you need?"
"A house."
At my words, Baek Eunseong clamped his mouth shut. Anyone watching would think he was the one who destroyed it. Even though it wasn't his fault, Baek Eunseong would become flustered whenever the house was mentioned and keep glancing at me.
"I'm home!"
It was when an uncomfortable silence was dragging on. Right on cue, Baek Hamin returning from the academy came running straight to Baek Eunseong's room.
"...Let's eat first."
At my words, Baek Eunseong jumped up and offered his hand first. I could walk on my own two feet just fine, but remembering that unlike Baek Eunseong, Baek Hamin's footsteps were wild, I quietly climbed onto his hand.
"Uncle!"
Baek Hamin, who was halfway up the stairs, saw me and smiled brightly before turning around and charging toward me with pitter-patter steps. Right. That was what I was afraid of. Those feet with no set trajectory.
Dying while fighting a magical beast would at least be cool, but I'd pass on ending my life getting stepped on by a kid's feet.
Baek Eunseong went to the kitchen where Choi Jaegen had left after finishing work and started clumsily setting out the meal.
No, he's been preparing meals for several meals now but he's still awkward. I clicked my tongue loudly enough for him to hear, then climbed onto Baek Eunseong's shoulder and directed him like the rat from some movie—do this, do that.
At the table set up like that, Baek Hamin happily ate even the rice with burst egg yolk, but not me. Baek Eunseong stopped neatly cutting the seaweed with scissors and glanced at me. Then, unlike Baek Hamin who was stuffing rice into his bulging cheeks, he placed a piece of kimchi on top of my rice as I was nibbling at single grains.
"Still don't know how to release the skill?"
"Yeah... Uncle's hair looks fine too."
I rolled a piece of kimchi and seaweed to make a small kimbap roll and let out a small sigh. Can't I release it on my own? When I looked at Ashil and asked, the golden thread just wobbled back and forth. Is that an 'I don't know' or an 'it can't be done'?
"You said the reason I shrank was because you made up your mind to raise me. Then conversely, if you think about abandoning me..."
"No!"
"Hunter Seong Dohyun."
My mouth shut at the two voices restraining me, and I rubbed my forehead. I couldn't live like this forever, but the situation seemed oddly satisfying to those two, which annoyed me even more.
"Then what about last time? What were you thinking when you shrank last time?"
"At that time..."
Baek Hamin stopped mid-sentence and glanced at Baek Eunseong. When Baek Eunseong and I waited without saying anything, the small mouth that had been chewing rice answered in a tiny, shrinking voice.
"I wanted to hide somewhere..."
So the hidden skill must have unlocked then. Without asking any further, I wrapped rice with seaweed. It was the moment I tried to shove it into my mouth.
"Uncle, you know. Hamin won't abandon Uncle. So can't we live together?"
At the same time as those words, the face that had been chattering away until just now suddenly disappeared. When Baek Eunseong and I, startled, jumped up and ran over there.
"Uncle...?"
There was Baek Hamin, shrunken just like me.