“Liar.”
Kang Yujun narrowed his eyes.
“I’ve never heard of analgesia being a side effect of awakening. You’re lying to reassure me, aren’t you?”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“Really? Then let’s test it.”
In an instant, Kang Yujun grabbed Lee Kanghyun’s right arm. It was the uninjured one.
“What are you doing?”
When Lee Kanghyun tried to pull his arm away in disgust, Kang Yujun only held on tighter.
“Stay still. You said it doesn’t hurt.”
His fingers pressed down on the inside of Lee Kanghyun’s arm, where the flesh was the softest. Then he began pinching it.
At first, he did it gently, watching Lee Kanghyun’s reaction and gradually increasing his strength. But Lee Kanghyun did not even twitch an eyebrow.
‘Does it really not hurt?’
Instead of feeling relieved, Kang Yujun found himself growing increasingly anxious. The fact that Lee Kanghyun could not feel pain did not bring him comfort. It only made him more uneasy.
If he could not feel pain, he would not hold himself back, and what if something truly terrible happened? The chances were low since he was an S-rank Hunter, but if his Ability failed to activate even once, he would die on the spot.
Without realizing it, Kang Yujun tightened his grip.
Just as he thought that he wished Lee Kanghyun would at least scream if it hurt—
Crack.
A sound like bone twisting echoed.
“Ah…!”
Startled, Kang Yujun let out a short gasp and immediately released Lee Kanghyun’s arm. His face went pale.
No, why did this happen…?
It was true that he had used force, but he had not used enough to break a bone.
“Kanghyun. What do I do…? I’m sorry. I think I went crazy.”
Kang Yujun did not know what to do with himself. He could not even touch the arm in fear of making it hurt more, but he also could not simply leave it alone. He fidgeted helplessly.
Seeing him like that, Lee Kanghyun could not help but sigh.
“Forget it.”
Lee Kanghyun said it indifferently and casually rotated his arm once. His regeneration activated, and the twisted arm returned to perfect condition in an instant.
His expression did not change at all. He looked completely calm.
But internally, he was sweating.
‘Looks like the drug side effect temporarily weakened my bones… He didn’t notice anything suspicious, right?’
Fortunately, Kang Yujun was too consumed by guilt over injuring Lee Kanghyun’s arm to notice anything.
“Seriously… it doesn’t hurt?”
Kang Yujun asked in a trembling voice.
“Yeah. It just feels a little stiff. Hey, control your strength. You’re an S-rank Hunter twisting someone’s arm with all your power, so of course that happens.”
Lee Kanghyun shamelessly turned the blame onto Kang Yujun.
Fortunately, Kang Yujun only nodded and muttered that he understood. Seeing that reaction, Lee Kanghyun awkwardly avoided his gaze.
He felt slightly guilty about deceiving such an innocent guy.
Perhaps misunderstanding what that meant, Kang Yujun carefully wrapped his hands around Lee Kanghyun’s arm and rubbed it.
The hands that had just caused an accident were impossibly gentle.
“So… you really threw yourself around like that because you couldn’t feel pain?”
When Lee Kanghyun nodded, Kang Yujun let out a deep sigh.
“Haah…”
He weakly sat down on the chair beside Lee Kanghyun’s bed.
“So because it doesn’t hurt, you think it’s fine? That’s your logic?”
“Yeah. It’s fine. I’m perfectly fine.”
“No. It’s not fine at all.”
Kang Yujun shook his head. His eyes were filled with worry and pity.
“Kanghyun. Just because you can’t feel pain doesn’t mean your body doesn’t get hurt. Your flesh still tears and your bones still break.”
“That’s true. But I recover quickly.”
“That’s the problem. Because you recover quickly, you don’t think about protecting your body. You throw yourself in first during dangerous moments. What are you going to do if you get hurt so badly that even your regeneration can’t recover you?”
“That won’t happen.”
“How can you be so confident?”
“You’re an S-rank Hunter too. Have you ever been unable to use your Ability because your mana ran out? No, right? I’m the same.”
“...Fine, let’s say that’s true. But seeing your own arm get cut off and your flesh melt away with your own eyes… are you really okay with that? Is your mental state actually fine?”
Lee Kanghyun found Kang Yujun’s lecture strangely irritating.
If he gave up one arm, he could defeat an S-rank monster in an instant. Something that would normally take five hours could be finished in five minutes.
So why go through unnecessary trouble just to avoid getting hurt? That was not taking care of himself. It was simply stupidity.
Pain was unpleasant, but inconvenience was worse.
He wanted to snap back immediately.
Who were you to interfere? Why were you criticizing his efficient choices?
But Lee Kanghyun knew that saying any of that would only waste energy on unnecessary emotions.
“Fine. I won’t do it anymore.”
Lee Kanghyun raised his hands in surrender.
“I’ll do what you said. I’ll take care of my body and stop doing that from now on.”
He tried his best to sound sincere, pretending to mean it. But unlike Lee Kanghyun’s intention, Kang Yujun completely lost his momentum. Apparently, his empty response was too obvious.
“Hey, you really…”
Kang Yujun no longer seemed to have the energy to get angry. He rubbed his dry face with a hollow expression.
“Forget it. Talking to you is better replaced by talking to a wall. Just… get some rest.”
Kang Yujun weakly stood up, opened the hospital room door, and left.
His exhausted and troubled feelings were visible in his back.
Left alone, Lee Kanghyun awkwardly looked down at his own hand.
He had been found out.
Kang Yujun realized he was not actually reflecting. He had not been fooled.
Apparently, his acting skills were not good enough.
Lee Kanghyun fiddled with the IV line and sighed.
***
Kang Yujun stood alone in the hallway, his thoughts complicated.
“Ha…”
He could not feel pain?
It was hard to believe.
But there was evidence.
Yes. Perhaps it was better this way. Kang Yujun hoped it was true.
If it was a lie, then it meant Lee Kanghyun had endured the pain of his flesh melting and his bones twisting while keeping that calm expression.
That was horrifying.
Even if he could not feel pain, Lee Kanghyun—who hated blood—fighting so recklessly was not normal.
Back then, Lee Kanghyun had fought as if a screw had come loose somewhere inside him.
Leaving him alone felt wrong.
It felt like he had missed something, but he could not figure out what.
He probably needed to keep Lee Kanghyun close and watch over him.
But Lee Kanghyun was impossible to control.
Then he needed a definite measure.
He needed a reason to keep Lee Kanghyun from running away, a reason to watch and protect his every action.
Kang Yujun seriously considered it.
What could he do?
At that moment, the hospital room door slid open.
Lee Kanghyun cautiously opened the door, looked around, and checked his surroundings.
Their eyes met.
Kang Yujun did not even feel like laughing.
He should have known.
Lee Kanghyun was trying to run away again.
“Where are you going?”
Lee Kanghyun’s eyes darted around. It was painfully obvious he was trying to come up with a lie.
“Uh… the bathroom.”
“There’s a bathroom in the hospital room.”
“I felt suffocated, so I was going for a walk.”
“You? A walk?”
Kang Yujun scoffed.
A walk, seriously?
The guy who normally refused to even get out of bed.
“You were trying to escape before I came back.”
Once he realized excuses would not work, Lee Kanghyun shamelessly changed tactics.
“No, I’m already healed. There’s no reason to stay in the hospital. Hospital bills are a waste too.”
“So you were just going to leave without saying anything?”
“I was going to leave a message. Really.”
Enough.
Kang Yujun swallowed the sigh that almost escaped.
Talking to Lee Kanghyun was always a waste of time.
It was an obvious lie, but Kang Yujun did not press further.
“Fine. Let’s just go home. I’ll handle the discharge process.”
Lee Kanghyun’s eyes widened.
He seemed unable to keep up with Kang Yujun’s sudden change in attitude.
“You weren’t angry?”
He asked cautiously.
Kang Yujun found it fascinating that Lee Kanghyun was actually capable of noticing things like this.
“What’s the point of getting angry? You’re just going to do whatever you want anyway. So I’m going to do things my way too.”
Lee Kanghyun looked at him uneasily.
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s go home. I’ll drive you.”
Kang Yujun walked ahead.
Lee Kanghyun felt uneasy, but the fact that he was escaping the hospital was enough for him to follow.
The car was extremely quiet.
Kang Yujun silently drove while holding the steering wheel, and Lee Kanghyun sat in the passenger seat, staring blankly out the window at the scenery passing by.
Lee Kanghyun’s expression was calm.
Unlike his expression, his thoughts were noisy.
‘Please, just hurry up.’
Normally, Kang Yujun’s nonstop talking had been exhausting.
Every day, Lee Kanghyun had wished he would just shut up.
But the silence that came after their argument—if it could even be called an argument—was driving him insane.
It was unbearably awkward.
Should he try talking first?
But he had no idea what to say.
Lee Kanghyun had no friends, and he did not know how to calm down someone who was angry.
In the end, all he could do was hope they arrived quickly.
Unlike Lee Kanghyun’s desperate wish, the car only stopped after a long drive, when it finally reached the apartment’s underground parking lot.
During the entire trip, Kang Yujun did not say a single word.
And Lee Kanghyun, lacking even basic social skills, did not say anything either.