Chapter 99: Cannot Plant?

Kei and Kang Ian quickly arrived at the largest ingredient market in Dong-San city.

This place was always crowded. Sellers continuously called out prices, hunters who had just returned from Dungeons dragged carts of ingredients, and merchants specializing in purchasing stood jostling in front of the stalls.

Kei paid no attention to the noise around him. He walked straight to the area specializing in medicinal herbs.

His goal today was Blood Leaf and Silver Moon Flower.

These two herbs were the main ingredients for crafting potions that restore wounds and restore energy. If he could grow them in the space of the ring, the problem of ingredient sourcing would be largely solved.

Kei stopped in front of a shop with an old sign, then stepped inside.

"Excuse me, do you sell Blood Leaf and Silver Moon Flower seeds here? I am finding some seeds for them."

The shop owner, who had been bowing his head to count medicinal herbs, immediately looked up. He looked Kei up and down, then shook his head.

"Seeds? Those two don’t have seeds."

"They don’t?"

"Blood Leaf and Silver Moon Flower can only be found in Dungeons. They grow due to the energy inside, no one has ever successfully cultivated them outside anyway."

The owner pointed to two glass boxes placed on the shelf.

"If you want to buy, you can only buy the whole plant. Blood Leaf is 120000 won per plant, Silver Moon Flower is priced at 80000 won."

Kei looked at the two herbs in the boxes. The price indeed left Kei speechless, but if he didn’t try, he couldn’t know the result.

"Then give me five of each."

Kang Ian, standing beside him, raised his eyebrows slightly but asked nothing. The shop owner quickly took out the herbs, carefully wrapped each one in moisture-retaining paper, and handed them to Kei.

After paying, Kei carried the packages of herbs out of the shop.

Kang Ian looked at him.

"Kei-ssi, what are you planning to do with them?"

"I’ll try growing them. If I fail then it doesn’t matter."

Kei answered very calmly, as if the money he had just spent was insignificant, when in reality he was hurting inside over the cost.

Kang Ian looked at the packages of herbs in his hands, a flicker of curiosity in his eyes.

Kei didn’t explain further. He turned and walked into another shop to buy fertilizer, nutrient soil, and a few simple gardening tools.

Kang Ian waited outside for a while. Then he slowly took out his phone, walked to a quiet corner, and made a call.

"It’s me, listen to me, I need..."

He lowered his voice and gave a brief instruction.

The person on the other end said something. Kang Ian listened in silence, his eyes still following Kei’s figure as he selected bags of fertilizer in the shop.

"Yeah. As fast as possible. I need them right now."

He hung up and put the phone in his pocket.

When Kei finished buying everything, the two of them left the market together.

On the way back, Kang Ian still maintained a calm expression, but the curiosity in his heart had not diminished at all.

After all, Kei was already too mysterious, and now he suddenly wanted to grow Blood Leaf and Silver Moon Flower, which didn’t make Kang Ian feel that Kei was deliberately lying.

Kei had never lied, he was a very sincere and honest person.

After walking a distance, Kang Ian suddenly spoke up:

"That day... after you took Kai home, what happened?"

Kei’s steps faltered.

His mind immediately flashed with the chaotic memories of the previous night. Kai’s face while sleeping, the arm tightly wrapped around his waist, the two enormous German sausages hot and wet rubbing in his palm, and the red mark still covered under the bandage on his neck.

Kei’s cheeks flushed bright red.

"N-nothing special."

Kang Ian stared at him.

"Nothing special?"

"I just let Kai sleep over one night." Kei stammered. "The next morning Do Ae Young came to take him back."

"Just slept over one night?"

"Yes!"

Kei answered too quickly, then immediately realized he was reacting a bit strongly. He turned his face away, pretending to look at the shops along the street.

Kang Ian narrowed his eyes.

His gaze lingered on the bandage on Kei’s neck longer than usual.

A feeling of discomfort quietly rose in his chest.

He didn’t know why he felt uncomfortable.

Kai only slept with Kei for one night.That had nothing to do with him in the first place. Kei did not need to explain anything to him either.

But when he imagined Kai staying by Kei’s side throughout that entire evening and doing all sorts of intimate things that left marks on Kei’s neck, Kang Ian’s hand still clenched unconsciously.

"Why are you asking about that?" Kei turned to look at him.

Kang Ian immediately relaxed his hand, his face returning to its usual lazy, indifferent expression.

"Nothing. I was just curious."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

He took a few steps forward, his voice still calm.

"Kai is troublesome anyway. I just wanted to know if you were having any problems."

Kei looked at Kang Ian’s back and felt something was off about that answer.

But he did not ask further.

In Kei’s hands were the Blood Leaf and Silver Moon Flower stems waiting to be planted. Right now, his mind was occupied solely with how to keep them alive inside the ring’s space.

And behind him, Kang Ian quietly looked at the bandage on Kei’s neck once more.

The discomfort in his heart not only failed to disappear, but grew clearer by the day, ugly and rotting inside Kang Ian.

Why... Why is he so close to Kai?

Kang Ian could not help but recall the day he saw Kei standing beside Kai after that dragon had beaten Moon So Yeon nearly to death. At that time, Kei clearly had not yet considered that dragon someone important. There was concern in his eyes, but not much.

But what about the day before?

Kei’s eyes, full of fear when he saw the one who had destroyed the headquarters flying toward him was Kai, became radiant, trusting, and... close.

Why did Kei cherish that foolish dragon so much yet always guard against Kang Ian?

Kang Ian felt resentful.

Instinctively drawn close to Kei right after their first meeting, instinctively always wanting to come find Kei, and then instinctively... wanting to become important in his heart.

Perhaps Kei really had cast a spell on Kang Ian.