PP Chapter 13
by LukaDohwa pressed down on the hem of his clothes with his hand, which had been limply hanging by his side.
Pouting was one thing, but the clothes he had gone out of his way to dress up nicely in to meet Won were now crumpled.
Watching all of this, Won laughed with a slightly troubled face.
He had intended to just let it slide and accept it even if Dohwa got angry. But all this foolishly kind kid did was whine that he was being mean.
He had never comforted a guy before, so he had no idea what to do.
Rubbing his smooth chin, Won eventually acted as he would with a woman.
He tilted his head while maintaining eye contact and gave the kind of smile that made people of all ages and genders swoon.
He tried it because most people usually stopped being angry immediately when he did this.
However, contrary to his expectations, Dohwa’s face flushed beet red, and he threw a crumpled-up piece of tissue at Won.
“Ah, seriously! I’m being serious here…… stop using your looks!”
Plucking the tissue off his face, Won cocked an eyebrow and answered shamelessly.
“Oh dear, you’re still too young to know better? This isn’t a charm offensive; it’s just me being pretty.”
Saying that, he lifted his chin as if showing off, which was all the more annoying because he wasn’t entirely wrong.
Soft hair that looked like it would melt away if you put it in your mouth.
Flawless, smooth, pale skin. Long eyelashes and pretty lower lashes that looked like they had been painstakingly attached one by one.
Elegant eyes that looked like they had been drawn with a brush in a single stroke without a single fray. Dark brown eyes with a reddish tint in the irises.
Two beauty marks aligned vertically on his clear cheeks. Even a sharp nose bridge and thin lips.
A man who was undeniably the embodiment of beauty smiled sweetly.
“So, are you done being angry?”
“……Hmph.”
“You are.”
Won, who had been pointlessly stirring his coffee with a straw, stretched his arms wide.
As the loose sleeves of his shirt fell down, tattoos covering his pale arms here and there were revealed.
Because he always dressed neatly at the cafe, covered from the neck down to his toes, Dohwa hadn’t even known he had tattoos.
While Dohwa was stealing glances at them, forgetting he was even pouting, Won, who somehow caught that gaze, smiled coyly.
“What, is this your first time seeing someone with tattoos?”
It was strange how he could use such a delinquent tone without sounding vulgar.
As that thought crossed his mind, Dohwa narrowed his wide eyes and glared at Won.
“How old do you think I am? Of course it’s not my first time.”
“How old are you then?”
“Nineteen…… no, Hyung, you already know.”
“I only asked because you look like a nine-year-old baby.”
Won spoke with a voice full of laughter.
Seriously. What is he thinking? Holding his complicated feelings inside, Dohwa wore a sullen expression.
Just then, Won suddenly sprang up from his seat, walked over to Dohwa’s side, and plopped down.
That entire sequence was so natural that Dohwa couldn’t even react. Thoroughly caught off guard, Dohwa’s eyes widened, unable to hide his bewilderment.
At the same time, Won leaned back against the sofa with his arm draped over the backrest and let out a hearty laugh.
“Wow, your eyes get really big.”
“Hyung…… were you always this kind of person?”
“Hmm, I think that depends on what you mean by ‘this kind of person’.”
Won, crossing his right ankle over his left, muttered while tilting his head.
He said he was in the sculpture department, right? As if to show he frequently handled sharp tools, his long, pale fingers were covered in faint scars.
As he subconsciously glanced at the pale scars out of the corner of his eye, Dohwa fiddled with his clothes and answered.
“You know, a bit…… a sly person.”
“Yeah. I usually play a lot of pranks on people I like.”
“Do you like me?”
“I wonder. Do I like you?”
A question was met with another question. The funny thing was, Dohwa didn’t even feel like arguing back.
With a speechless face, Dohwa just stared blankly at Won.
A man who claimed he didn’t like him purely because he was a guy… yet whenever Dohwa spoke, he would always turn his body towards him to meet his gaze.
Unfortunately, because Won had his back to the window, the sunlight poured in from behind him. Like waves overflowing onto sand, Won smiled under the pouring sunlight.
“What about you, Dohwa? Do you like me?”
“……No? Why would I like you, hyung? I just like playing with you; it’s not that I like you.”
“I think that just stung a little bit?”
“I’m telling you it’s not! Why do you just accuse people like that. I’m telling you it’s seriously not like that. I’ll say it again, but the reason I like you, hyung, is because you take good care of me in the game. How could I not like someone who revives me when I fall to my death, helps me, and even gives me clothes? No, wait, I don’t mean I like you like that…”
“Anyway, I clearly get that you don’t like me, Dohwa. So stop talking. You’re going to give yourself a fever at this rate.”
Laughing playfully, Won reached a hand toward Dohwa. The back of his cold hand brushed past the flushed, feverish skin.
Later on, Dohwa would come to regret not saying he liked him right then.
He would wish he had just blurted out the words that were swirling in his mouth.
Just a little bit.
Maybe even a lot.
Won kept his promise to find Dohwa ‘someone to play with.’ And he did it perfectly.
Of course, he didn’t introduce anyone in real life; he introduced players in the game.
[‘Peach’ has joined the guild, <One-Hit Losers Don’t Deserve to Live>. Everyone, please welcome them.]
[Guild] Won: Everyone, listen up.
[Guild] Won: I brought the newbie I mentioned before.
[Guild] FastAndPissedOff: Wait, Hyung……
[Guild] FastAndPissedOff: F♡♡k, there’s literally only me, you, and the newbie in the guild right now, what do you mean “everyone listen up”…
[Guild] Won: Oh, right. Since there are only hardcore gamers in this guild, I thought everyone would obviously be on, so I didn’t check the member list……
[Guild] FastAndPissedOff: ♡♡ To think someone like that is the guild master…
[Guild] Won: Peach, I’m sorry. There aren’t many guild members online right now, so I’ll introduce you properly when everyone logs in later. They’re all a bit crazy about the game, but none of them are bad people.
[Guild] FastAndPissedOff: Ha, should I leave the guild?
[Guild] Won: Go ahead and leave. I doubt there’s anywhere else an Incident Board star like you can go besides here.
[Guild] FastAndPissedOff: Hyung, if you don’t want to debut as a gay star on the Incident Board together with me, don’t provoke me.
[Guild] Peach: P-please don’t fight.
……There were some minor squabbles, but regardless, Won kept his promise.
Won clung to Dohwa and paraded him around the guild castle like an otter showing off its newly-born pup.
True to a guild that was only bound by the name ‘guild’ on the outside but actually pursued solo play, the guild members—who each took up a spot and only did their own tasks—returned. They warmly welcomed Dohwa.
There was no one who would dislike a newbie, reeking of baby formula, entering a guild castle filled with the musty stench of players who were so experienced they had basically rotted.
[Guild] Non-Tanking Tank: Gasp! ㅠㅅㅠ How long has it been since we had a newbie…… (pats pats) Welcome! ㅠㅠ
[Guild] 21st Century No Yeah: You’re damn welcome, but why on earth did you join this guild?
[Guild] Professor Execution: Fr.
[Guild] Cherry Coke: Ah… Thus another little lamb goes to the Lord’s side… May He have mercy on this little lamb… and look upon them favorably… Also, anyone have dinner recommendations?
[Guild] FastAndPissedOff: Amen. Tteokbokki.
[Guild] Cherry Coke: K, let’s go.
[Guild] Won: What are you guys doing?
[Guild] Won: And he’s not a girl. Right, Peach?
[Guild] Peach: Tht’s right… I’m nt a gril I’m a guyy!
[Guild] Professor Execution: ?
[Guild] 21st Century No Yeah: ???
[Guild] Non-Tanking Tank: ? Did the guild master get hacked? If we check later, is the… guild master going to be… dancing in his underwear in front of the guild castle??
[Guild] Cherry Coke: A guy? A guyyyyyy?
Dohwa flinched subconsciously at the reaction, which was much more intense than he expected.
He knew they were talking through a screen, but the spirit of their reaction was strong enough to make him unintentionally hesitate.