When Geon-joo, who had been suffering from a high fever until dawn, opened his eyes, the first thing that entered his vision was pale skin.
“…?”
Having just woken up, his blurry vision was filled with an exceedingly white expanse of flesh. Momentarily perplexed, Geon-joo rubbed his eyes a couple of times and repeatedly closed and opened them. Finally, as his vision cleared and he could see what was in front of him clearly, his dark eyes widened.
Unable to grasp the situation, Geon-joo remained frozen for a moment before inhaling. The scent was not unfamiliar. Suddenly frowning, Geon-joo abruptly sat up.
He had finally fully recognized what was in front of him.
“What the…?”
As he raised his upper body, dozens of layers of clothes that had been piled on top of him fell away. Geon-joo, flustered by the realization that he had been sleeping in a position almost like he was embracing Sa-yoon, rubbed his face. His mind was in chaos.
The last thing he remembered before experiencing severe pain was feeling strange and seeking out Sa-yoon. His memory cut off precisely there, and now it was daylight and this was the situation.
Did I embrace him?
Or did he…to me?
Geon-joo’s gaze filled with disbelief. Given Sa-yoon’s suspicious track record, he unconsciously checked his body but felt no pain.
His body, which had been punctured like a skewer in various places, was now fine, the fever that had spread to his head had subsided, and he felt no pain. He was in a condition similar to when he first entered the field, or perhaps even better.
He didn’t touch me, but… treated me?
He was uncertain. Just as his gaze, mixed with doubt and questions, fell on Sa-yoon—
Sa-yoon, sensitive to the presence of others, felt Geon-joo stirring and lifted his eyelids. Blink, blink. His eyelashes, looking more lustrous than usual in the sunlight, moved, revealing dark blue eyes between them. After briefly frowning at the light, Sa-yoon slightly raised his body and looked at Geon-joo.
“Oh…”
“Oh?”
Geon-joo’s head tilted slightly at the unexpected exclamation. Sa-yoon stretched his stiff body once and then pushed aside the coat that had been covering him.
“Judging by how good your face looks, it seems you’ve recovered from your illness. How’s your body?”
“Did you nurse me?”
“Who else would have, a monster?”
Sa-yoon spoke as if chiding him and looked up at the sky. The sun was already high. He had intended to stay awake to keep watch, but it seemed he had fallen asleep at some point without realizing it.
Frowning at the tingling in his arm, Sa-yoon bent and stretched his left arm where the blood flow had been cut off.
“Did I sleep roughly? Why is my arm aching?”
“……”
“What’s with you? Why are you reacting like this, pretty boy?”
It was Sa-yoon’s arm that ached, but it was Geon-joo who flinched. When Sa-yoon gave him a strange look, Geon-joo avoided his gaze and cleared his throat with a “hem.”
He definitely looks better than yesterday.
Seeing Geon-joo’s complexion and expression so different from yesterday, Sa-yoon rotated his aching arm. His efforts in nursing him all night had paid off.
“So how’s your body? Anything feel strange?”
Just because he looked better didn’t mean he had fully recovered. When poisoned, it was not uncommon for unexpected parts of the body to become paralyzed.
There had been cases where people woke up feeling refreshed only to find their lower body had no sensation.
Ominously, Geon-joo in front of him had only raised his upper body. Just in case, Sa-yoon repeated the question he hadn’t received an answer to earlier. Geon-joo moved his arms, turned his neck, and stretched his legs before shaking his head.
“I’m fine.”
“That’s good then.”
Maybe lower body paralysis was too far-fetched.
Well, with the number of potions I poured into him yesterday, they should at least do their job.
In just one night, the money spent on Geon-joo easily exceeded a thousand units. It was information that might make Geon-joo nervous and conscious of Sa-yoon all day if he knew, but Sa-yoon refrained from mentioning his hardships or financial expenditure.
It was already their second day in the field. There was much to do, and he couldn’t afford to discourage his pretty boy with unnecessary words.
From yesterday’s experience, he knew his pretty boy was less efficient when his spirits were dampened and his self-esteem was low. To draw out his skills at maximum efficiency, he needed to be praised even for making rice porridge.
And also be fed.
Ah, food.
As his consciousness shifted along with his thoughts, Sa-yoon suddenly remembered the monster meat he had set aside the night before. The meat left over after their late meal was wrapped in clean leaves. Sa-yoon got up, picked up the meat, and tossed it towards Geon-joo. Having regained his original strength as the poisoning symptoms improved, Geon-joo caught the suddenly thrown meat with ease.
“Eat that first, then we’ll talk.”
“What is it?”
“Food.”
“Food?”
Here?
His eyes seemed to say exactly that. Geon-joo carefully unwrapped the leaves Sa-yoon had handed him. Instead of fluffy grains of rice, he saw properly cooked meat.
“Where did you get this…?”
“I got it while you were sound asleep because I had nothing better to do. Even if it’s not great, eat it. From now on, make sure you eat your meals regularly, pretty boy. What are you going to do with such a weak body?”
“I’m not particularly weak.”
“Then how did someone like you collapse from a single poisoning?”
“People normally collapse when they’re poisoned, you know.”
“Not our people.”
And you’ve just become one of our people.
Chew, chew. Tearing off a piece of the half-dried jerky, Sa-yoon scanned Geon-joo’s condition, rolling his eyes up and down. Geon-joo, who had quietly eaten his meal as well, looked like he could move right away without any problems.
“You’re really not hurting anywhere?”
“No.”
“Don’t hide things like yesterday. If anything feels off, tell me quickly now.”
“There’s really nothing. Why are you so worried?”
“How could I not be worried? You were sick in bed for a full twelve hours.”
“…That long?”
“Yes, and who do you think fed you, clothed you, and put you to bed during that time? Why have you been talking back constantly? People should know how to show gratitude.”
“…I’m sorry about that, no, wait, don’t you think about how you pushed me without letting me rest in the first place?”
“Never mind that, just take these.”
Knowing Geon-joo’s tendency to rarely back down once an argument started, Sa-yoon cut off the fight before it could ignite and pulled out five or six potions from his inventory.
Geon-joo looked puzzled as he cradled twice the usual amount of potions in his arms. As he put the differently colored potions into his inventory, his gaze shifted to the void. He picked up one bottle and shook it, making the liquid inside slosh.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the swirling liquid.
“What’s this?”
“An antidote. It’s an A-grade antidote, so it should be effective when you’re poisoned by A-grade or lower poisons. Your body hasn’t experienced poison before, so getting poisoned once can be troublesome. Keep it handy. You’re most vulnerable to poison since you have no resistance or immunity.”
“Isn’t everyone vulnerable to poison?”
“Not those with resistance.”
“How do you build that?”
“How do you build it? You build it by getting poisoned a few times. Why, do you want separate training for that too?”
He was planning to build Geon-joo’s resistance by putting small amounts of poison in his meals once he reached A-grade anyway. It would take at least A-grade to withstand poisoning without struggling like this time.
It seemed a bit early to do it now, so when he asked, Geon-joo furrowed his brow as if considering it.
He had expected him to raise his voice, asking if he was crazy and saying such a thing would be criminal, but surprisingly, Geon-joo seemed to be seriously considering it.
Perhaps the fact that he had been down for twelve hours had quite an impact on him.
He had forgotten due to Geon-joo’s recent complaints and struggles, but Han Geon-joo was quite tenacious.
It was the same at the Tower of Mistrust.
Well, if he lacked tenacity and interest in improving his skills, he would have given up long ago during yesterday’s training, Sa-yoon thought as he poked the space between Geon-joo’s eyebrows with his fingertip.
“Why are you pondering so hard? We’ll work on building your resistance after your rank goes up, so for this field trip, just be careful of poison.”
As he gave this light advice, Geon-joo emerged from his thoughts and looked at Sa-yoon. Feeling Geon-joo’s eyes, which held a hint of confusion, scanning him thoroughly, Sa-yoon paused in the middle of packing and turned around.
“Why are you staring so intently?”
“You seem to have suddenly become kind…”
“What?”
It was closer to a mutter to himself than an answer, but Sa-yoon didn’t miss the information that reached his ears. Irritated that Geon-joo spoke as if it was strange after he had fed, clothed, and put him to bed, Sa-yoon raised the corners of his eyes. Geon-joo shrugged his shoulders slightly and added, “It just feels that way.”
“What do you mean suddenly? I’ve always been kind to you, pretty boy.”
“This is kindness?”
“If you’re not sure, ask the other guild members. Now that you seem to have finished eating, shall we start again?”
“Start what?”
“Why are you asking when you know? Are you going to rest just because you were sick for a day?”
His tone was closer to genuine surprise than reproach. At this, Geon-joo, who had been looking at Sa-yoon with somewhat less guarded eyes, narrowed his gaze again. Regardless, Sa-yoon opened his mouth as if frustrated while putting the piled-up clothes into his inventory.
“If you got poisoned by a mere A-grade poison and were sick for a day, you should realize how weak you are and think about working harder. These days, young people have no grit.”
Back in my day, when I got poisoned, I was so frustrated that I didn’t sleep for 10 days, busy building up resistance. Instead of being sick from poisoning, I trained. Really…
Sa-yoon’s story continued endlessly. Sighing as if he didn’t want to hear the seemingly never-ending speech, Geon-joo whispered softly, “What do you mean, becoming kind?” There was no way Sa-yoon’s S-grade hearing would miss that whisper.
Sa-yoon, who had been passionately explaining about the hunter world from 10 years ago, which was no different from the Warring States period, turned his body completely towards Geon-joo.
“You just—”
“I’ll do it, okay? Let’s do that special training again.”
Just as Sa-yoon was about to lecture him, unable to push him around carelessly since he had just transitioned from patient to normal person, Geon-joo cut him off with a wave of his hand. He seemed fed up with the whole “back in my day” spiel.
He was just as impertinent as ever, but it was the first time Geon-joo had directly asked to go train. Sa-yoon, with just a slight lift of the corner of his mouth, ruffled the dirt to erase traces of their stay in the forest and put his arm around Geon-joo’s shoulders.
The plan to strengthen their bond seemed to be progressing quite smoothly.
“You should have said so from the start.”
Your brother will make you S-grade somehow, so when I tell you to do something, just say ‘Yes, brother’ and follow along. Okay?
Sa-yoon muttered as if he were a returning college student, to which Geon-joo simply replied with a “Yeah, right.”
Sa-yoon chuckled.
Soon after, Geon-joo’s short screams echoed through the forest.