Chapter 122

Gowon recoiled as if startled out of his skin.

“...Ah....”

Baek Hanje stood in the doorway.

His head tilted slightly to one side.

“Well, wow. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you that I’m slipping into polite speech without even trying.”

“...Hanje.”

“Would you look at that.”

“.......”

“I was wondering whether you were finally done running around avoiding me....”

Baek Hanje’s gaze slid toward the bag Gowon had packed.

“And now you’re packing up completely so you can run even farther away?”

“...Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

“Is that really all you want to say?”

“.......”

Of course there was so much he wanted to say that it felt ready to burst out of him.

I’m sorry.

Thank you.

I like you.

And I’m sorry again.

He had no idea how many times he had repeated those words in his head.

And Baek Hanje had already discovered the one horrible feeling Gowon had least wanted him to know about.

A man with nothing to offer—not only that, but someone who had brought hardship down on him—liked him.

How much must he hate that?

Gowon thought this would be the last time he ever looked at Baek Hanje as someone close enough to call by name.

“...If there’s something I need to do for the ‘quest,’ please tell me. I’ll do anything.”

“Hmm.”

“If you just... no, if you just give me instructions as my senior... I’ll do whatever it takes. You can just send them to me in a message or something....”

Even in a situation like this, Gowon could not understand why his heart was pounding so wildly.

Why heat was spreading through his entire body.

Even reacting like this felt like a luxury he had no right to indulge in.

At last, the words burst out of him.

“...I’m sorry. Someone like me... I didn’t even realize it myself, but I ended up having feelings far beyond what I deserved.”

“.......”

And I’m sorry I still like you.

I’m sorry. Maybe that’s another way of saying I love you.

The beautiful lyrics Baek Hanje had written kept circling through his mind.

He really was an incredible composer and lyricist.

A single line was enough to make a person’s heart ache like this.

“...That bet we made about video views. ...I won.”

Baek Hanje’s incident had made the news, but reports scattered across different channels had little chance of overtaking Gowon’s Splash Night fancam.

Besides, Hanje had not been active lately, so there had been no newly uploaded videos either.

Then why did he set the deadline at three months?

The answer seemed obvious now.

He had probably wanted Gowon not to feel pressured.

Things had gone badly off course, but if they looked only at the bet itself, Gowon was the winner.

“I’ll tell you my wish.”

Baek Hanje said nothing. He merely watched him.

Gowon bit his tongue and forced down the humiliating emotion rising in his throat.

“Please forget that I like you.”

I hope this pathetic, shameless feeling never reaches you at all.

Forget the brief fall you stumbled into because of me.

Go back to where you belong, shining, and fly as high as you want.

Gowon lowered his head and took a step.

This would probably be the last time he ever saw this home, so he wanted to take in more of it.

But he could not bring himself to lift his head.

When he passed Baek Hanje, he even held his breath so the trembling would not give him away.

Then, at last, when he had taken one step past him—

A powerful hand clamped down on Gowon’s shoulder.

And spun him around.

Bang!

“!!!”

Gowon’s back slammed into the bedroom door as he was driven against it.

“While you were gone.”

“.......”

“I did some thinking too. Nice and slow.”

Baek Hanje’s hand rose in front of Gowon’s face.

Warm fingers settled over Gowon’s trembling eyelids.

“My dear junior.”

His fingertips pressed firmly between Gowon’s brows, forcing his face into a frown.

“When we first met, you looked like this.”

Then Baek Hanje withdrew his hand.

Flushed cheeks over pale skin.

Lips trembling, unable to hide what he felt.

His chest rising and falling as if the feelings inside him had grown so enormous they were about to explode.

His eyes were round now, as though that frown had never existed, and there was only one person reflected in them.

“I knew it was your first love.”

Though I figured out who you liked a little late.

Then, right in front of Gowon, Baek Hanje smiled.

Bright.

Satisfied.

And full of that particular mischief that belonged only to him.

“So I’m the one who taught you what love is.”

“......!”

...Love?

The emotion he had only ever expressed in songs the way the company coached him to.

The meaning of a word he had never had the room to learn while life kept grinding him down—

Gowon finally understood it.

Ah. Th-this is....

“Haha. Doesn’t feel bad.”

“H-Hanje....”

“So I’ll take responsibility and go into your world too.”

“...What? Mm—!”

Gowon’s upper body went completely rigid against the door.

Baek Hanje stepped closer and covered Gowon’s lips with his own.

His lips brushed softly over Gowon’s, while his gaze held Gowon’s startled eyes with startling intensity.

Then, through the gap between Gowon’s teeth that had opened in shock—

“!”

His tongue slipped inside.

“Mm... Hanje, ah... ngh....”

Gowon did not understand what was happening.

No.

He knew what the act itself was called.

He simply could not believe it was happening between Baek Hanje and him.

...Why?

Why would Baek Hanje do this to me?

And even after kissing him, Baek Hanje was still smiling.

“Hey. With a face like yours.”

“.......”

“And that expression? Even a mermaid who had no interest in younger men would fall for you.”

Gowon stayed pressed flat against the wall, lips wet and parted, still unable to say a word.

“And why are you so sure you won the bet?”

“...?”

“Should be about time.”

Baek Hanje played a video on his phone and held it in front of Gowon.

Step.

Step.

The video began with Baek Hanje emerging from the darkness in a white blazer.

At last, he walked right up to the camera.

Then, just as he had done to Gowon moments earlier, he reached out.

Snap.

A playing card appeared between his fingers as if by magic.

When he turned it face-up—

it was the ace of spades.

The video ended there.

The title of the eleven-second clip was:

yACE (Young Ace) COMEBACK Official Teaser 1 (from HANSEL)

“......!”

In barely an hour since being posted, the video had already blown past the highest view count of any Gowon video.

“Uh... uh, what... what?!”

“Did you really think I’d pick a fight I could lose?”

No way.

The reason he set the deadline at three months....

Was because Young Ace had a comeback scheduled!

How did I not know Young Ace was preparing for a comeback?

...Because Gowon himself had been desperately avoiding everyone.

And if Baek Hanje wanted to keep something from him, he could do so easily.

While Gowon stood frozen beneath the weight of several shocks arriving at once, Baek Hanje leaned close again as if he meant to kiss him and met his eyes from only inches away.

“Then I’ll tell you my wish.”

“.......”

The declaration fell on Gowon, who was still completely dazed.

“My wish: Don’t cry. Do your absolute best, and confess to me as impressively as you possibly can.”

“.......”

“The deadline is... hmm.”

Baek Hanje thought for a moment, then let out a quiet huff of laughter.

“I’m too impatient to make it unlimited. Let’s say two months.”

“!”

“I’ll give you that much time while I’m busy working myself to death.”

Baek Hanje took the bag from Gowon’s limp hand.

Then he kicked it straight back into what had once been “Gowon’s room.”

“Hey. You call that pocket change an earnings payout? Move out after you’ve actually been paid properly.”

“W-wait....”

“I’m going to practice. Make rice and soybean paste stew. Oh, and I need to build muscle, so get meat ready to grill too.”

Baek Hanje walked out through the front door Gowon had been trying to leave through.

Gowon simply sank down on the spot where he had been standing.

He had absolutely no idea what had just happened to him.