“...”
“...”
A suffocating silence settled over them. Ain felt every single person in the place recede into the far distance. He had the strange sensation that only he and Dojin were left in the room.
While he floundered in that unreal feeling, a cold voice cut the illusion clean in half.
“What is it.”
...Huh?
Ain snapped back to himself. Dojin’s brows were drawn together the way they got when he was angry, and his eyes were fixed on something. Ain followed that gaze, and realized. He was clutching the hem of Dojin’s shirt!
“Ah!”
The short cry burst out of his mouth. And yet his pale hand still wouldn’t let go of the fabric, gripping it tight. Ain panicked.
What’s wrong with me? Dojin hates it, so I gotta let go... but I’m so happy to see him my hand won’t move!
In the instant he stood there bewildered by an extreme emotion he’d never felt before, Dojin simply walked on forward. He’d done it thinking that if he just kept going, Ain’s hand would come away on its own. Which meant he had badly underestimated Ain.
Rrrrip.
With that ominous sound, the T-shirt Dojin was wearing tore. And the hard-packed muscle hidden underneath it, that faintly tanned back, was laid wide open to view. For a moment the café erupted.
“Hey! Look at that.”
“Holy crap, jackpot. I’m buying a lottery ticket today.”
People pretended to fiddle with their phones while aiming them at Dojin. Shutter clicks went off in scattered bursts from their machines.
At the center of the uproar, Ain was horrified.
I ripped Dojin’s clothes!
The ragged scrap of cloth in his hand fluttered pitifully. Dojin was staring at the piece of T-shirt snagged in Ain’s fingers, his face sharp with half disbelief and half irritation. Ain opened his mouth, stammering.
“D-Dojin... sorry...”
The moment he held that name in his mouth and let it out, Ain forgot the whole situation and flushed hot across the cheeks. So I really did find Dojin. I’m standing in front of him as a human.
The fact that he could say Dojin’s name out loud hit him for real, and his chest swelled with it. It felt like his heart might leap straight out of his mouth.
Unable to hold down the rush of feeling, Ain’s eyes shone, wet and brimming. He looked up at Dojin with a thousand emotions packed into the look, but Dojin was already walking past him. Desperate, Ain scrambled to his feet and grabbed Dojin’s arm.
“Wait a sec...!”
Smack.
“Ah!”
Shoved off by that rough hand, Ain’s back slammed into the café table. A stinging pain spread through him as the table tipped. Because of it, the strawberry latte he’d barely touched sloshed over, its contents soaking the tabletop and the floor. Thoroughly shocked by a thing he’d never experienced before, Ain clapped a palm over his mouth with a small gasp.
Half crouching, holding on to the table, he stared at the ruined floor, then whipped his gaze back to Dojin. Dojin looked down at him with an utterly cold face, then started walking again. Ain hurried to catch hold of him, but a café worker came running up.
“Sir, are you all right?”
With the worker standing there looking at the ruined spot, Ain, too flustered to keep still, pulled the sanitary wipes he always carried out of his shirt.
“S-sorry. I’ll clean, I’ll clean it up.”
“It’s fine. I’ll take care of it.”
“I’m so... sorry. Really...”
His shoulders sagged with how awful he felt. A strawberry latte was a little expensive. He hadn’t been paid for the cleaning work yet, so he only ever bought one with the money Kim ajusshi had given him, and only when things got really hard. Now he’d spilled the whole thing, and caused the worker a huge amount of trouble on top of that. And besides...
Dojin doesn’t recognize me.
He looked at me like I was a stranger.
And those eyes only ever came out when Dojin was having a really hard time.
The shock set his chest humming. As he mechanically moved his hands, wiping up the drink, the worker asked him a question.
“Um... are you okay?”
“Y-yeah, yep...”
The worker, watching Ain, suddenly dropped her voice.
“Don’t take it too hard. Woo Dojin’s famous for having a rotten personality. He treats the people around him like garbage too. Don’t even get me started on his fans. I’ve heard he hates so much as talking to people.”
“...”
“He comes in here sometimes, and that attitude is always his default. It’s not just you he’s like that with, so really, don’t let it get to you. He’s the one who’s a jerk.”
“N-no, he isn’t.”
Ain shook his head, meaning that Dojin was not a jerk, but the worker only looked at him with pity in her eyes.
After apologizing to her who knows how many times and wiping the floor clean, Ain hastily gathered his things and hurried out of the café. He searched the entrance and the area outside the building as hard as he could, but of course, Dojin had already vanished.
Another long breath slipped out of him, perfectly naturally.
“Gettin’ through life sure ain’t easy.”
The line Yu Jihan, his roommate, lived by every single day had somehow stuck itself to Ain’s own mouth. He scanned the café and the building one more time, then trudged off down the road.
He’s never made that face at me before.
Dojin had always been kind to him.
Sure, when things got a little rough he’d lose his temper, but even that lasted only a moment, and afterward he’d always say he was sorry.
Like each was the only friend the other had, they’d shared everything and gone through everything together. Dojin had looked after him in every small thing, had held him every day, had sat him on his lap and told him funny stories in that low, murmuring voice.
But just now his face was scary. His voice too.
It was the kind of face and voice that made you feel you’d get hit for speaking up carelessly. So cold it seemed to freeze you right through the middle. And that was supposed to be Dojin’s real face.
The Dojin I know isn’t like that. He’s really kind...
Ain looked down at the scrap of cloth in his hand. Torn ragged, it had lost any shape it once had, but Ain handled it as carefully as if it were treasure, and then, unable to fight the instinct, buried his nose in it.
“Mmph.”
With his nose and mouth covered by the fabric, he breathed in, and Dojin’s good smell came flooding up into him. Aah... this is what I smelled in the dungeon. It’s been so long. Feels good.
Ain stood in the middle of the street sniffing for a while, until he remembered Yeongi ajumma waiting for him and hurried his feet along.
His face was flushed as he ran, but for some reason his expression looked complicated.
“Ain?”
“Hello.”
Ain bowed politely, a deep little dip of the head. The man broke into a pleased smile.
“Good, good. Off somewhere?”
“I just went to get a drink.”
After answering, he pulled both corners of his mouth up. He was following Kim ajusshi’s advice to the letter. Smile a lot at people.
Supervisor Park, Ain’s boss, looked at him and nodded along.
“Reason I’m here is, your assigned area’s been changed. You’ll be working somewhere else from now on, not here.”
Ain’s eyes went round. Changed to somewhere else? But I only just barely got used to this place. He stood there looking a little tense, and Supervisor Park flipped through the papers in his hand and read off the contents.
“Let’s see... ah, here it is. Shin Ain. Starting tomorrow, you report to the training hall.”
“The training hall?”
“Mm-hm. There’s a new one that just opened over that way. It’s close to the area you’ve got now. Go there and do exactly what you’ve been doing.”
“Do exactly the same... yes, sir.”
Ain answered with his hands clasped tight together, apparently still not over his nerves, and watching him, Supervisor Park laughed mischievously.
“It’s fine. I guarantee you, you’re probably going to like it there better.”
He tilted his head at the baffling remark. Supervisor Park bent forward, put a hand over his mouth, and whispered.
“Ain, I hear you’re a Woo Dojin fan?”
Gasp. How did he know? He stared with his surprise written all over his face, and Supervisor Park went on.
“Jihan told me. Actually, word is Woo Dojin’s training room is in there.”
“...!”
Ain’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly.
Seeing that reaction, Supervisor Park smiled, thoroughly satisfied with himself.
“Keep it a secret from everyone else for now. Oh, and the hunters still have to train in there, so don’t make it too obvious. You know what I mean?”
Ain couldn’t manage a proper answer and only barely got his head to nod. Supervisor Park checked the time and headed for the door. Once he was gone, Ain grabbed at his pounding chest with both hands.
I’m going to be cleaning Dojin’s training room!
This isn’t a dream, right? I hardly ever dream when I sleep, anyway.
When he worked, he slept so deeply that he hardly ever dreamed.
Ain clapped a hand over his mouth at the unexpected news. The terrifying version of Dojin he’d met today surfaced a little in his mind and made him falter for a second, but either way, Dojin was Dojin.
Just thinking that he’d get to see him again set his heart thudding helplessly. Panting a little, he slowly gathered up his things. He put his sanitary wipes into the small black crossbody bag he’d gotten for free when he joined the company, then ducked his head through the strap and settled it on properly.
Out of the cleaning staff room, he dug out his own personal tranquilizer from inside the bag and tore the packet open.
Munch.
I get to see Dojin again.
Munch.
Can this really be true? Just a little while ago I couldn’t see Dojin at all and everything felt hopeless.
Munch.
I’m shaking a bit... but still, I’m happy.
Eating his tranquilizers one at a time as he walked, before he knew it the packet was completely empty. Ain stuffed the finished packet neatly into his bag and headed for today’s last cleaning zone, the second-floor lounge in the building next door.
