Chapter 100

After asking Yeonhoo to open the door, he simply stood there in silence.

Why did he suddenly come here? Did Miu... no, did Ms. Miyoung tell him something? Did he figure out that I’m 0momo0?

Given the circumstances, Yeonhoo could no longer ignore him. Miyoung and Kwon were family, after all. It was entirely possible they had talked about Mo Yeonhoo.

—Yeonhoo.

Kwon Mieon called him again.

Yeonhoo stared anxiously at the screen before deciding that hearing him out would be better than sitting here trembling with uncertainty.

“Okay... Fine. Come in.”

He tapped the screen to unlock the entrance, and Kwon immediately stepped into the lobby as though he had been waiting for permission. Yeonhoo hurried toward the elevator.

A moment later, the elevator chimed, and the doors slid open to reveal Kwon.

“Hello.”

His voice was low and subdued. Maybe it was just Yeonhoo’s imagination, but he did not seem to be in a particularly good mood.

“...Hey.”

Had something happened? He seemed unusually gloomy today.

This is the first time I’ve seen him since he drove me home.

“What brings you here all of a sudden?”

Yeonhoo asked in confusion, but Kwon did not answer. He merely stared diagonally down at the floor as though lost in thought.

Yeonhoo had just begun approaching him slowly when Kwon abruptly asked,

“Why do you like her?”

Yeonhoo had no idea what he was talking about. Why did he suddenly want to know why Yeonhoo liked “her”? The question that followed only left him more confused.

“She doesn’t wash properly, so she smells, and her personality is awful. There’s nothing good about her. Why did it have to be her? Why do you like her so much?”

“Kwon Mieon, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who—”

“You shouldn’t have helped me, then. I didn’t even know.”

But Yeonhoo could not continue.

“This is so annoying.”

Beneath his disheveled hair, Kwon’s striking face turned fully toward him. His unusually pale eyes remained fixed on Yeonhoo, trembling, and his lips were a mess, apparently chewed raw between his teeth. He kept biting the spot where the skin had split and begun to bleed.

At this rate, it was going to get badly infected.

But if that had been all, Yeonhoo would not have been so startled.

“This is really... so fucking annoying.”

Kwon’s eyes were red.

He glared stubbornly at Yeonhoo without blinking once, the skin around his eyes flushed. Whatever had happened, it was clearly something serious.

“Did something happen to you?”

Thoroughly alarmed, Yeonhoo rushed over to him. Kwon had appeared out of nowhere and was saying nothing but baffling things. Something was definitely wrong.

“Are you sick?”

Why would he come to Yeonhoo if he was sick?

The question crossed his mind, but his body moved before he could dwell on it. Without thinking, he reached out and placed the back of his hand against Kwon’s forehead.

He did not have a fever.

A scent brushed past Yeonhoo’s nose instead.

He smells like the outdoors...

Kwon’s natural scent lingered faintly beneath it, but it was barely noticeable. He must have come in such a hurry that the smell of the wind clung to him from head to toe.

Yeonhoo stared blankly for a moment before his eyes met Kwon’s.

At such close range, Kwon parted his lips slightly.

“...What’s wrong with you?”

His eyes reddened even further.

“Did somebody hit you? Or do you have some kind of chronic illness? Does it hurt badly? Hey, I can’t tell just by looking at you. If you’re sick, you should go to a hospital. Why would you come to me and—!”

Yeonhoo had never seen Kwon like this before. He floundered helplessly, having no idea what he was supposed to do.

Kwon watched him in silence for a while before finally speaking.

“Your heart changes easily.”

The remark came entirely out of nowhere.

“You said you’d had about forty unrequited loves.”

What followed made even less sense.

Yeonhoo was worrying that he might be sick, and Kwon suddenly accused him of being fickle and brought up how many times he had fallen in love. Yeonhoo wondered whether he was joking, but his expression was far too grave for that.

“Forty?”

“Yes. You told me that.”

Ms. Miyoung was his forty-sixth unrequited love now....

Oh. Was I on number forty back then?

He could not remember clearly, but when he had first met Kwon at Seunghwan Lee’s party several years ago, he had probably just given up on his fortieth crush. He must have mentioned it to Kwon.

But why was he suddenly bringing that up now?

Still confused, Yeonhoo began to withdraw the hand resting against Kwon’s forehead.

“Love can change, right?”

Or at least, he tried to.

Kwon caught his wrist and pulled it toward himself. As Kwon stared intently down at him, Yeonhoo tried to decipher what he wanted.

Seeing that painfully serious expression, Yeonhoo finally began to understand why Kwon looked as though he were about to cry.

Wait... Is he having relationship problems?

That had to be it.

Maybe the reason he had not contacted Yeonhoo lately was because he had been so busy pursuing someone romantically. That was strangely irritating, but....

Hold on. Why am I irritated?

Yeonhoo froze.

“Yeonhoo?”

At the sound of Kwon calling him, he looked up. Kwon’s expression remained grave. Whatever romantic trouble he was dealing with, it must have been weighing heavily on him.

He wants to know whether love can change?

Yeonhoo understood now.

The person things had been going well with must have begun acting differently, leaving Kwon full of doubt.

“No. Love doesn’t change.”

Of course, Yeonhoo’s own love had changed about forty-five times.

“How could love change? When you truly love someone, no matter what happens, you only want that one person!”

Granted, judging by his own parents, that kind of love seemed rare in this world.

He swallowed that part and spoke emphatically, determined to support Kwon’s relationship.

“So don’t worry. Even if it seems like that person has changed, eventually they’ll come back to—”

“It doesn’t change?”

Yeonhoo stopped mid-ramble.

He could have sworn he had just felt something.

“Love doesn’t change?”

...Killing intent?

“It’s not like it never changes.”

Yeonhoo instinctively reversed course at once.

The frostiness in Kwon’s face softened slightly.

Was Kwon the one trying to steal someone away?

Apparently, Yeonhoo’s guess had been wrong. Kwon seemed to want to hear that love could change.

Realizing this, Yeonhoo hurried to elaborate.

“Love is naturally, you know, very changeable. It changes all the time. There are so many wonderful people in the world. How could love possibly last forever?”

“Yes. Love changes. Like you said, if someone more attractive appears, there’s no reason it couldn’t change at any time.”

“Right...? Love changes.”

“Yes. Exactly. You seem to understand that very well.”

That was apparently the correct answer.

The ominous air around Kwon subsided. His murderous expression disappeared as though it had never existed, and he nodded with visible satisfaction.

“But what happened?”

Now that Kwon appeared to have regained some composure, Yeonhoo finally asked. He had looked far too serious earlier for Yeonhoo to find an opening to ask for details.

Kwon’s eyes rolled around as if he were searching for an answer, while his lips moved soundlessly.

Seeing that, Yeonhoo became certain.

The sudden visit. The questions about love.

“You got dumped, didn’t you?”

There was no doubt about it.

Kwon’s face immediately hardened.

“No.”

“Then why did you suddenly come all the way here and—”

“Take it back.”

“What?”

Kwon tightened his grip slightly around Yeonhoo’s wrist. Yeonhoo flinched at the sudden pressure, and Kwon demanded with complete seriousness,

“Take back what you said about me getting dumped.”

“...Okay. Fine. I take it back.”

“Good.”

His insistence was so forceful that Yeonhoo agreed without thinking, and Kwon nodded in satisfaction.

But what difference did that make? Kwon’s fixation on something so pointless was ridiculous.

“You’re such a child.”

Yeonhoo laughed without meaning to.

Their eyes met.

Kwon’s pale eyes, framed by their dramatically defined corners, held Yeonhoo squarely within them. He stared without blinking, and Yeonhoo was the first to look away.

As Yeonhoo turned his head slightly, Kwon studied his profile and asked,

“Do you have an ideal type?”

“An ideal type?”

“Yes. Not a woman. A person.”

Yeonhoo stared at him in bewilderment.

“Your ideal type of person.”

What kind of bizarre question was that?