The employee looked down in alarm at Yeonjun, who had passed out right where he was, then called for the owner.
“Boss, I think the customer fell asleep!”
Perhaps this was the first time anything like this had happened since the young employee started working there, because he clearly had no idea what to do. The owner answered without sounding particularly concerned.
“Check his phone. If it isn’t locked, look through his contacts and call someone.”
The employee shook Yeonjun’s shoulder once more, but far from showing any sign of waking, he did not even twitch.
Even if it was to get him home, was it really all right to do that? Wouldn’t it be better to turn him over to the police instead…?
While various complicated thoughts crossed his mind, the screen of the phone Yeonjun had left on the table lit up.
[New Message]
Was it his biological younger brother or a roommate?
Mistaking Haein’s message as something concerning real life rather than the game, the employee thought, Perfect.
He noticed the voice-call request button at the bottom of the chat and quickly pressed it, relieved that he would not have to dig through someone else’s private information.
The ringtone had barely sounded twice when the thoroughly flustered voice of a young man rang out.
— Uh, hyung? What’s going on? You actually called me…
The employee could not properly hear what Haein was saying. He merely hoped to hand the completely intoxicated customer over safely so this incident would not damage his fledgling career as a trainee employee.
“Hello. Your older brother got drunk and fell asleep at our establishment. Would you be able to come pick him up? We’re about to enter our busiest business hours, so I think you’ll need to come fairly quickly.”
The employee delivered the line like a machine gun, as though he had prepared it in advance. Haesal could not answer immediately and instead made a foolish sound.
— What?
Frustrated by Haein’s less-than-swift response, the employee pressed him impatiently.
“Oh, aren’t you the younger brother who lives with him?”
At that moment, a lie slipped out of Haein’s mouth before he even realized it. His heart seemed to drop with a thud.
IgnIgnis-nim was drunk? So drunk that he could not even support his own body and had fallen asleep?
The IgnIgnis-nim Haein had watched until now had always seemed so strict about taking care of himself that not even a needle could pierce his defenses.
— No—yes, I am. Tell me the address, and I’ll come right now.
How he would clean this up was something he could think about later.
It was just before nine when Haein hurriedly arrived at the location the employee had given him.
Of course, the buses and roads were hopelessly jammed during rush hour, and the subway was packed full of office workers.
After wandering through and forcing his way across a neighborhood where there were so many people everywhere that they were crammed together like bean sprouts, he arrived at a bar with such an elegant, old-fashioned atmosphere that he wondered whether he was even allowed inside.
“Wow…”
From the antique-style sign that seemed to proclaim, This is the world of adults! to the expensive-looking liquor bottles arranged near the entrance as decorations, it was an entirely different world from anything Haein had ever encountered.
All he had ever visited with his college friends were cheap drinking places near the university and the occasional casual cocktail bar.
He had wondered whether Ignis-nim might be older, but apparently, he really was quite old. Haein had imagined him being in his late twenties at most, and now he began to worry that he might look far too shabby and like some little brat beside Ignis-nim.
He had rushed out because this was an absurdly rare opportunity to meet Ignis-nim in real life, but since this would be their first meeting, he could hardly complain if Ignis-nim sobered up in the meantime, declared that he did not know some kid like him, and shut the door in his face.
Maybe I really shouldn’t have come…
While Haein hesitated at the entrance, respectable-looking office workers in all sorts of neat suits passed around him.
They walked around as though it were perfectly ordinary, wearing suits that looked terribly expensive, glossy bags, and dress shoes like the ones he had only ever seen in dramas. In comparison, Haein, who had rushed out in casual jeans and sneakers, looked painfully unsophisticated.
It would be ridiculous to turn back after coming this far, though.
Just as a brief stab of regret crossed his mind, the employee spotted Haein from inside and waved enthusiastically.
“Uh…”
Immediately recognizing him as the younger brother he had spoken to on the phone, the employee hurried out to the front of the bar to greet him.
“You came to pick up your older brother, right?”
Haein’s heart felt as if it might stop from the anticipation of finally meeting Ignis-nim in real life.
It did not matter if his appearance was not as handsome as his voice. Even if he looked like one of the ordinary men in their forties who passed by on the street, he was still the benefactor who had given Haein courage when he was young.
Haein’s perception would automatically transform him as though a powerful beautifying filter had been applied.
Gulp.
Haein barely managed to swallow against his dry throat and followed the employee. Then, the moment he saw Yeonjun sleeping against the sofa in the staff break room—
“Uh…?”
His mind went completely blank.
How should he greet him? Where should he call a taxi to? How was he supposed to check his address?
Concerns like those did not have the slightest chance to enter Haein’s mind. It was beyond his control.
IgnIgnis-nim, asleep with his cheek resting against the leather sofa, was displaying visuals so overwhelmingly stunning that they seemed unreal.
“Excuse me, sir~. Your younger brother is here. Please wake up.”
Could a person really be this handsome?
No, was a person even allowed to be this handsome?
Haein could not believe it even though he was seeing him with his own eyes. His skin was so fair that it almost appeared pale. His cheeks were soft and smooth, with every trace of baby fat gone, leading into a sharp jawline and a tall, straight nose.
The contrast between his light hair and dark eyebrows gave him an exotic yet sharply captivating appeal.
Haein had never seen anyone this handsome in his entire life.
Someone else might say that a drunk was still just a drunk, but all the drunken guys he had seen countless times at college orientation had looked like they deserved a punch. This, however, was simply absurd.
This was also the first time he had ever sensed something like a halo shining behind a drunk person’s head.
While the employee casually gripped Yeonjun’s shoulder and shook him, Haein stared in a daze and unknowingly dropped the phone in his hand onto the top of his foot.
“Ah!”
The fairly heavy smartphone struck his instep dead on, finally snapping Haein back to his senses.
Even though it had fallen from a considerable height, Haein’s own foot had served as a cushion. By sacrificing his instep, he had managed to save the screen.
“Oh dear, he’s really out cold. Will you be able to support him by yourself?”
The employee, who appeared to be around Haein’s age, looked at him worriedly.
Haein had rather refined, delicate features, so the employee seemed concerned that he would not be able to carry Ignis-nim, who had a similar build, securely on his back.
“Ah, yes…! I’m fine.”
Haein finally collected himself, bowed politely to the employee, and paid Yeonjun’s tab.
What kind of drink costs thirty thousand won for one glass?
Haein flinched at the price, but fortunately, he still had quite a bit of spending money left from the private tutoring he had started immediately after finishing the CSAT.
Now he needed to call a taxi…
However, Haein had rushed out declaring that he would pick Yeonjun up without even knowing where he lived. There was no way he had a plan.
Let’s just get out of here first.
With a heave-ho, Haein hoisted Yeonjun onto his back and stood up, only for Yeonjun’s long legs to drag across the floor.
Haein was taller when they stood upright, but the difference in their heights was not dramatic. Simply slinging Yeonjun over his shoulders left him in a terribly awkward position.
“Hyung, I’m sorry, but I’m going to hold your legs…!”
Haein reached behind himself, wrapped his arms around Yeonjun’s legs, and hoisted him farther up.
Yeonjun’s body swayed as he was lifted again, but his exhausted face still showed no sign that he might wake up.
Where should they go now?
Haein reached behind him and fumbled around near Yeonjun’s backside. His hand found a wallet that had been carelessly shoved into a back pocket.
The address on his ID had better be where he currently lives…
Otherwise, should they go to a nearby business hotel?
Haein could not even imagine taking Ignis-nim to an unholy place like a motel. However, he could not bring him to the house where he lived with his parents either. If he could not discover Ignis-nim’s home address, one of the relatively inexpensive hotels nearby would be their best option.
“Just a moment. I’m going to check your wallet!”
Uwaaah.
Still carrying Yeonjun, Haein struggled not to topple over as he opened the wallet. In the frontmost slot, he found an ID card bearing a photograph of a face that looked slightly younger than it did now.
“Waaah!”
Yeonjun was so handsome that he seemed to emit a glow even in his photograph, and Haein involuntarily let out another foolish noise.
On closer inspection, it might not have been a glow coming from Yeonjun’s face at all, but merely the ID card’s anti-counterfeiting design. That was not important.
First, he needed to check the address.
XX-dong, XX-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province……
That neighborhood was not particularly far away by taxi. At that distance, there was a good chance it was still his current home.
With Yeonjun still on his back, Haein barely managed to operate his phone with one hand and call a taxi. After confirming that a vehicle had been assigned, he seated Yeonjun on a nearby bench.
“……!”
Under the light of the streetlamp, Yeonjun staggered and leaned against Haein, still flaunting an unreal appearance.
“Wow…”
Haein once again made a dazed sound, captivated by Yeonjun’s face. He abruptly came to his senses and shook his head.
Don’t think anything strange. Get a grip.
He had come here today to help Ignis-nim, not to satisfy his own selfish desires……
Judged coolly and rationally, that was true.
They had recently interacted over the internet, but in reality, Haein and Yeonjun were complete strangers who had never even seen one another’s faces.
The employee might have mistaken them for family, but in an ordinary relationship between a guild member and guild master, the normal response would have been to say, “We aren’t family,” end the call, and merely worry about him from a distance.
However, Haein could not cover the reason he had not wanted to do that with another lie.
He was curious about what kind of person Ignis-nim was.
Because he knew that, of his own free will, Ignis-nim would almost never agree to meet him.
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