That Face Is the Problem - vanish into fiction

The moment Da-sol saw Hee-ro and Jeong-eon, his smile vanished completely. With an expressionless face that looked as if he had never smiled once in his life, he even tilted his head and said, “…Huh?”

However, Jae-gyeong’s hiccups still had not stopped. As Hee-ro and Jeong-eon carefully got into the elevator, they observed the space between Da-sol and Jae-gyeong.

“You have the hiccups, Hunter Jeong Jae-gyeong.”

“Ah… yes, somehow, hic!”

“I have heard that hiccups can occur when emotions are heightened. Did something happen between you and Hunter Seo Da-sol, who was smiling brightly just now?”

Jeong-eon asked clearly. Da-sol shot Jeong-eon a sharp glare, but Hee-ro smoothly stepped in front of Da-sol, blocking that hostile gaze with his own body.

Jeong-eon’s mischievous teasing, which did not even feel like teasing since he never smiled, made Jae-gyeong’s face grow even redder and worsened his hiccups.

“No, hic! It is just, some, somehow… hic!”

“Try holding your breath and swallowing your saliva three times, Jae-gyeong.”

Hee-ro offered advice.

“Or it may be best for you to return to the dorm and drink some water.”

Jeong-eon also stopped joking and gave sincere advice. Jae-gyeong nodded, then hesitated and spoke.

“Ah… but, hic! I am supposed to eat pork cutlet, hic! with Da-sol….”

“Waaah, so the two of you are even having lunch together now? Lunch time already passed, so did you wait for each other? Oh my, you two must have gotten really close. As expected, our Jeong-eon really is an idea bank and an all-purpose problem solver.”

Hee-ro clung to Jeong-eon and fawned over him. Jeong-eon smiled with satisfaction.

“I am glad the two of you have grown closer. Then you must be heading to the first floor. I will press one for you.”

In addition to the already selected Basement Level 2, Jeong-eon pressed the button for the first floor. It seemed that Hee-ro and Jeong-eon were heading off to do mock training.

“Have you both thought about your weapons yet? It has not been long since the announcement.”

Da-sol acted as if he did not hear, staring only at the descending floor numbers, so it fell to Jae-gyeong to answer.

“Da-sol and I… are both thinking about shields, hic. Shields that can be used for physical attacks, hic.”

“Oh, that sounds good. I think it is meaningful for a tanker and a healer to use the same type of defensive gear.”

Hee-ro responded positively. Da-sol continued pretending not to hear.

“Hunter Seo Da-sol, how did things go with the mock training you mentioned with Hunter Yoon Yi-hyeon? Do you work well together?”

This time, Jeong-eon turned around and asked Da-sol directly. Da-sol, who had been standing at the very back as if he were a complete stranger to the three in front, reluctantly opened his mouth.

“Well, more or less.”

Jae-gyeong, who had already heard the details, accepted the answer calmly. Hee-ro and Jeong-eon, however, reacted very differently. They stared at Da-sol with wide eyes and mouths hanging open.

“You mean you matched well?”

“Were you really satisfied?”

It was Jae-gyeong who felt flustered by their reaction. The two of them were acting as if Da-sol had said something like, “We are a match made in heaven. I want him as my partner forever.” Was it really that serious? Jae-gyeong stole a glance at Da-sol.

Da-sol rolled his eyes irritably and answered curtly.

“Yes.”

It barely even counted as an answer. He had simply parted his lips and let out a sound with a slight vibration of his vocal cords.

Even so, Hee-ro and Jeong-eon looked at each other as if they had just witnessed something shocking. To Jae-gyeong, both of them seemed to be overreacting.

“Is that not basically a match-made-in-heaven level response, Jeong-eon?”

“I think so as well. As expected, Hee-ro has a keen eye for talent, which must be why you were able to bring in such a good guard hunter.”

“Ah, Jeong-eon. Why do you make even a single sentence sound so lovable….”

“I, that is because I learned it from you, Hee-ro….”

“Should we go to the seventh floor instead of Basement Level 2? Just for a bit, really just for a bit—”

“Fuck.”

As Hee-ro and Jeong-eon once again fell into their own little world, Da-sol suddenly cursed loudly and stepped forward.

“Do not have sex in the dorm. We live there right now.”

“What do you take the dorm for, a hotel? Fucking disgusting…. “ Da-sol muttered with his mouth barely moving, as if performing ventriloquism. But since they were in the narrow, enclosed space of an elevator, even his muttering was perfectly audible.

Jae-gyeong’s vision went blank. Saying “fuck” and “fucking disgusting” to his superiors and teammates, who also happened to rank first and second among hunters nationwide. ‘No, wait, did going to the seventh floor mean having sex in the dorm in the first place? Fuck…. It really was fucking disgusting.’

As Jae-gyeong froze with a stunned expression, Jeong-eon spoke awkwardly.

“What Hee-ro said just now was a joke. We would never do that in the dorm.”