Seven hours earlier.
Jeong Uijin hurriedly caught Lee Jaeo in his arms when he suddenly lost consciousness, as if a fuse had blown.
“Jaeo! Jaeo!”
He called Jaeo’s name and gently shook him. Even that made Jaeo’s small head loll alarmingly. Worried that he might hurt his neck, Uijin carefully supported the back of his head, but he did not stop calling his name.
“Jaeo, wake up! …Jaeo!”
Jaeo still did not respond. His eyes remained tightly shut, and he did not move at all. If Uijin’s keen instinctive perception had not picked up the faint sound of his breathing, he might have believed Jaeo was dead.
As Uijin’s face drained of color, he remembered something Jaeo had told him in the past.
—We do not operate after midnight. I am also placed into a state of forced sleep.
Supporting Jaeo easily with one arm, Uijin slipped his other hand into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a pocket watch engraved with a golden pattern from the small spatial-storage compartment connected to it and checked the time without turning on the light.
It’s midnight.
Three minutes had already passed, to be exact, but Jaeo had clearly lost consciousness at midnight.
In that case, nothing had gone wrong with him.
Once relief washed over him, countless thoughts followed.
It really is you. …I knew I wasn’t mistaken.
The moment he heard Jaeo’s voice.
The moment he saw his silhouette.
The moment he met that familiar gaze.
Every one of those moments had revealed the person Uijin remembered so unmistakably that there was no way he could have failed to recognize him.
The instant Uijin became certain it was Jaeo, he had nearly reached out and pulled him into an embrace. He undoubtedly would have done so if Jaeo had not been pretending to be a Player while surrounded by other people.
This world was full of Players who looked down on NPCs and did not even regard them as people. Now that the safe Special Supply Station was gone and Jaeo no longer had the System’s protection, he was so fragile that any Player could shatter him simply by squeezing too hard.
That was why Uijin had deliberately suppressed his emotions and brought Jaeo somewhere private. He had believed that once they were alone, Jaeo would recognize him too and openly show how glad he was to see him. Just as Jaeo was deeply special to Uijin, he had believed Jaeo would not regard him as merely one Player among countless others.
But…
Damn System.
It seemed the System had done something to Jaeo when it released him from the Special Supply Station.
Otherwise, there was no way Jaeo would have failed to recognize him.
Uijin’s confused thoughts rapidly settled into order as he looked down at Jaeo, who lay asleep as though he had fainted.
I have to protect him.
The fact that he entered forced sleep at midnight proved that he was still an NPC. Uijin did not know whether Jaeo truly believed he was a Player or whether some circumstance forced him to pretend, but he could not remain here.
Uijin had always intended to take Jaeo to a safe zone inaccessible to Players once he found him. He had already prepared more than enough items for that purpose.
It was a place he had arranged long ago while dreaming of the day he could take Jaeo away from the Special Supply Station.
Uijin lifted him with ease. Whether it was because of his Strength or because Jaeo was so slender, he felt as light as a child. Uijin could easily have carried him with one arm.
He found himself wishing Jaeo weighed a little more and thinking that he would have to feed him plenty of good food from now on.
Uijin walked with extreme care, as though carrying a precious piece of glasswork. Instead of opening the front door beside him and stepping outside, he headed deeper into the familiar room.
I’ll let him rest here for now, and we’ll leave together once tomorrow’s raid is over. The Second Sequence might begin immediately, but… Jaeo’s safety comes first.
Uijin moved through the darkened interior without hesitation.
Any sufficiently high-Level Player could naturally see through deep darkness as clearly as daylight, but for Uijin, there was another reason this space was familiar.
This was the room shared by the leader and Uijin alone.
With the leader currently absent, Uijin was the only person permitted to enter. Yoonji Huh, as one of the faction’s senior officers, technically had access as well, but even she would be locked out once he activated the entrance security system.
For the current Jaeo, this was probably the safest place anywhere.
Even after laying Jaeo on the bed in his room, Uijin did not turn on the light. Though it was forced sleep, he worried that brightness might still disturb his rest.
He replaced the bedding before covering him. Uijin never had difficulty regulating his body temperature and disliked feeling confined, so he normally slept beneath a thin blanket. He could not do the same to Jaeo, so he brought out the cleanest, warmest blanket available.
After carefully pulling it all the way up to Jaeo’s neck, Uijin sat on the edge of the bed with a remorseful expression.
I pushed him too hard. I let my own feelings take over like an idiot…
If Jaeo had lost his memories, then he must have been far more confused than Uijin. Yet Uijin had forgotten that and done nothing but pressure him. When morning came, he would speak to him calmly so Jaeo would not be frightened again as he had been today.
After silently looking down at Jaeo for a long while and reflecting on his actions, Uijin carefully reached toward his face.
His long fingertips slowly smoothed Jaeo’s slightly disheveled bangs. The sensation of the fine, soft strands spread pleasantly across his hand.
So this is what you look like.
How badly had he wanted to see him?
He had searched even the Special Supply Stations in other Districts for a rune stone capable of nullifying Recognition Interference, all because he wanted to see Jaeo’s face.
He had wanted to know the shape of his face, the curve of his eyes, the look he gave Uijin, and how beautiful his lips would be when he smiled.
He had wanted to see it all with his own eyes.
Now that the moment had finally arrived, the feeling was strange.
Words as inadequate as novelty, happiness, or overwhelming emotion could not begin to describe it.
As Uijin gazed down at Jaeo as though entranced, his fingertips drifted lower. They passed over his eyebrows, which felt different from his hair, and touched the smooth skin of his eyelid.
The instant Jaeo’s long lashes brushed his finger, Uijin flinched without realizing it.
The sleeping Jaeo showed no response. Even so, Uijin froze for a while like a child caught doing something wrong.
Before long, his trembling fingertips began moving again.
They traced Jaeo’s prominent cheekbone and soft cheek, then slid along the sharp bridge of his nose. When they reached his soft lips, which released slow, even breaths, they stopped once more.
At some point, Uijin’s fingertips had grown hotter than Jaeo’s warm skin.
Just as his finger gently brushed back and forth over Jaeo’s lips—
—Uijin. Yoonji Huh is looking for you.
Rox’s telepathic thought pierced his mind, and Uijin quickly pulled his hand away. Only after remembering what he had been doing did the tips of his ears begin to burn.
He rose from the edge of the bed and looked back at Jaeo with lingering reluctance before finally leaving the bedroom.
When Uijin stepped into the villa corridor, he encountered Yoonji Huh just as she reached the top of the stairs.
“Hey, what happened? Where’s Mr. Lee Jaeo?”
“He fell asleep.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“He must have been tired.”
Uijin remained perfectly calm despite Yoonji’s widening eyes.
But Yoonji knew all too well how indifferent Uijin usually was toward other people, so she could not simply accept that explanation and move on.
“That’s it? You’re not going to explain any further?”
“Is there anything to explain?”
Yoonji stared at him, then shifted her gaze to the front door behind him. It led to the room shared by Uijin and the leader, a place no one but the two of them and Yoonji herself was permitted to enter.
Certain that Jaeo was inside, Yoonji studied Uijin with a complicated expression. After holding his gaze for a moment, she attempted to walk past him.
“Fine, I understand. I’ll take him back.”
She did not know why Uijin had brought Jaeo into the room, but they could not simply leave an unconscious person there.
As Yoonji tried to enter, Uijin pressed one hand firmly against the door. Yoonji’s Strength was high as well, but it was nothing compared with his. No matter how hard she pulled, the door would not open.
“…What are you doing?”
“I told you he was asleep.”
“That’s why I said I’d carry him back myself.”
“Just let him sleep here.”
For a moment, Yoonji thought she had misheard him.
That was how astonishing Uijin’s statement was.
He had already lied to lure away someone he had supposedly met for the first time today. Now he had brought that person into his room and intended to let him sleep there? The same man who would not allow even other Eclipse members inside? The man who claimed he preferred some random NPC to actual people?
Yoonji’s face went briefly blank before her eyes narrowed.
“What is this?”
“What is what?”
“It’s strange enough that you let someone you met today into your room, but now you’re saying you’ll let him sleep there. This isn’t something I can react to with a moment of surprise and then ignore.”
Yoonji’s gaze grew increasingly sharp.
“What exactly is your relationship with Mr. Lee Jaeo?”