Harmonious Love

First Kiss (9)

“You guys are right, I actually find that kind of thing a bit bothersome.”

Somehow, that look in his eyes didn’t seem like a lie at all.

Rather, it was closer to calmly stating a fact.

Suddenly, silence fell over the table, and Han Chae-yeon and Kim Jung-hyun started laughing, saying they knew it all along.

“Hahaha!”

“Didn’t I tell you? You inconsiderate jerk.”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen him say it so bluntly. I knew it, I knew it.”

While everyone was enjoying themselves, Mo Yeon wasn’t. Suddenly feeling strange, Mo Yeon emptied the glass in front of him.

He emptied the refilled glass and emptied it again.

“What’s this? He’s suddenly drinking.”

“Maybe he’s embarrassed because we said the gift was rare.”

“Cute, so cute.”

At some point, they noticed his slightly stiffened face and started giggling. Mo Yeon forced a smile.

“…”

Even when he glanced at Tae Young-won again, there wasn’t even his usual smile on his face.

It felt very unsettling. Somehow, it felt unfamiliar.

Of course, it probably wasn’t anything serious.

***

Under a street lamp in a deserted area, Mo Yeon leaned back and crouched down.

At first, his body seemed to be going down slowly, but then it plopped down. Tae Young-won, who had been walking beside him all along, looked down at him blankly. After staring for a while, he said quietly,

“Why did you drink everything they gave you? You drank a lot.”

“… It’s not like that.”

Although he was speaking much more carefully than usual, his words were much slower than normal. Mo Yeon then leaned his head against the wall.

“No, we took the wrong path. We can’t go through there.”

“Path?”

“Let’s rest here for a moment.”

Although the world seemed to be slowly spinning, Mo Yeon was certainly not in a drunken state.

The reason he was crouching here on the street was not because he was drunk.

The reason Mo Yeon decided to take a short rest was because he had first noticed a flickering figure right across from them.

Of course, Tae Young-won, unaware of this fact, could only ask in confusion.

“What do you mean we took the wrong path?”

“No, there’s something over there, now, really big…”

Mo Yeon tilted his head slightly. In the same alley, at a very close distance, there was something black creeping into view. Whether it was an old one or not, its original form was beyond recognition.

“We need to take another path. We can’t go this way, I absolutely…”

It just looked like a black mass about his size, standing in the streetlight.

Ugh! Mo Yeon, who had been slowly shaking his head, suddenly felt like he had made eye contact with the ghost and tightly closed his eyes. Even though he couldn’t see eyes or eyeballs or anything, he felt that way.

A familiar fear that he had experienced throughout his life came over him. It felt like it would thrust its pitch-black face right up to his nose at any moment, asking if he had just looked at it.

And the warmth touching his face would be very chilly, and it would smell of rotting blood or flesh. Others wouldn’t feel any warmth or smell, but these were all things that only he could perceive.

“… What are you saying?”

However, a familiar touch landed on his bowed head. Mo Yeon’s eyes opened slowly.

A moment later, as if realizing something, Mo Yeon’s mouth opened blankly. When he opened his eyes, the ghost was still there in the same place. Writhing, having forgotten all its wandering resentment.

Tae Young-won ruffled Mo Yeon’s hair, then gently combed it back. And he lightly tapped him with his fingertips as if scolding him.

“I’m sorry, but what are you saying? You drunk.”

“…”

“I’m waiting because I think you’d really hate it if I carried you, but if you’re like this, I’ll have no choice but to carry you like a baby, you know?”

Hearing the familiar scolding voice, it felt like he was gradually coming back to reality.

It felt like his hazy, dim consciousness due to the alcohol was returning step by step. Come to think of it, there was no need to run away or take a detour now. Because Tae Young-won was right beside him.

Tae Young-won, whom even ghosts avoided.

To realize this only now. He must have been really drunk.

Not knowing this, he had walked all the way here, keeping his eyes down to avoid making eye contact with ghosts. Mo Yeon suddenly felt terribly wronged.

And at the same time, he felt a twinge of regret.

To Tae Young-won’s eyes, Mo Yeon was just making incomprehensible noises, then suddenly seeming to realize something with amazement, and now looking wronged. Sure enough, Tae Young-won, who had been watching Mo Yeon without taking his eyes off him for a moment, finally pointed to where Mo Yeon had been looking earlier.

“What’s over there? I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

“…”

“The cat I used to have acted just like this.”

How strange he must look. It really must look strange.

“Suddenly looking around, not knowing where to bolt, not listening at all, and also…”

“…”

But Tae Young-won already knew that he was strange. He knew and still stayed with him.

Looking up at Tae Young-won, Mo Yeon thought blankly. Would he ever meet someone in his life who could talk about the world he saw? Or would his eyes change to be like others’?

Honestly, both seemed impossible. Such things were unlikely to happen in his life.

“I haven’t known you for long, but it seems like you can’t control yourself every time you drink.”

“You used to make me drink on purpose, sunbae.”

“…”

Mo Yeon raised his head with suddenly clear eyes.

“You’re right, you’re not fully drunk yet. Drunk canceled.”

“I think it was this alley back then too…”

Mo Yeon looked around for a moment. Come to think of it, this was indeed a place he had passed through before.

And that was certainly not a pleasant memory for Mo Yeon. If anything, it was a memory that would make him angry whenever he thought about it.

<…Sunbae, I’m sorry.>

<…>

And then Tae Young-won added a meaningful comment.

At that time, Mo Yeon couldn’t even guess what Tae Young-won was trying to ‘confirm’. He had forgotten about it and moved on, but now that he thought about it, he was curious. What had he been trying to confirm?

Then Tae Young-won knelt on one knee in front of Mo Yeon. It was because Mo Yeon showed no sign of getting up from his crouched position.

“At this point, it seems like you’re protesting for me to carry you…”

Muttering, he firmly held Mo Yeon’s face with both hands and looked him over, as if checking his condition.

Mo Yeon blinked quietly.

The two were close enough to feel each other’s breath. Tae Young-won’s gaze swept across Mo Yeon’s entire face and landed on his lips. For a moment, the surrounding air seemed to stop, and silence fell.

“…”

Mo Yeon, suddenly taking a breath, unconsciously averted his gaze.

Where his gaze landed, he saw a different view from where the ghost had been earlier.

This time, there were mushy, sprawled ghost figures on the ground. Earlier there had been one big one, but now that one wasn’t visible, and instead, there were small ghosts gathered together.

‘…What, these are even less scary than before.’

Even as Mo Yeon blinked and stared at them for a long time, the ghosts posed no threat to him.

They seemed to show interest when they felt his gaze, but they only hesitated, never approaching. There were some that seemed like they really wanted to come, but in the end, they didn’t approach, just like the others.

Is this all because of Tae Young-won too? He felt secretly proud.

“What are you going to do? Go away. I’m not scared at all, you know? Just stay there until tomorrow morning, all of you.”

“You were half-drunk earlier, right? This is confusing again.”

Not noticing Tae Young-won’s expression changing, Mo Yeon continued muttering towards the ghosts.

Only when his head was grabbed again did he come to his senses. Suddenly remembering something, Mo Yeon spoke.

“…Back then, here, I thought sunbae was going to kill me, and I was so surprised I thought my heart would burst.”

As he muttered, the corners of Tae Young-won’s mouth turned up.

“I thought my head would explode from anger because of you.”

“Pfft.”

Oh? As Mo Yeon burst into laughter, the corners of Tae Young-won’s mouth curved even more. As if to say ‘See?’, he deliberately furrowed his brow.

“Do you have any idea how long you’ve been unknowingly provoking people?”

“Haha.”

At those words, Mo Yeon laughed even louder. Tae Young-won’s gaze remained fixed on Mo Yeon.

Mo Yeon laughed for a long time in front of Tae Young-won.

“What do you mean ‘how long’? Sunbae, you didn’t even know me.”

“Hmm, well…”

At those words, Tae Young-won smiled with an indecipherable expression.

Mo Yeon’s head tilted.

Well?