Chapter 65
There were none.
After that, shockingly, nothing happened at all.
She woke up in the morning, got carried on his back to meet his friends.
And as always, the day ended with her watching Ju-hyuk’s back as he protected her.
One day, she even hung onto his back.
She thought something thrilling or romantic might happen, but in reality, it just felt like clinging to a tree like a cicada.
[Are you two dating?]
[No.]
[But you stick together all the time?]
[There’s a reason.]
Ju-hyuk firmly brushed off all questions.
Of course, they weren’t in that kind of relationship, but to have him deny it so decisively without even leaving a hint—
Honestly, it stung her pride a little.
So she even wondered if she should deliberately cling to him in front of others, maybe slip in some skinship.
“You’ve got dust on your shoulder.”
A gentle hand brushed his already spotless shoulder.
She had heard he’d never dated before, so she thought maybe a small warm gesture like this might shake him a bit.
“Thanks.”
But as expected, Jeong Ju-hyuk was Jeong Ju-hyuk.
Even when she fiddled with his shoulder, his expression stayed indifferent.
I mean, a guy who could sleep next to her in the same bed without batting an eye wasn’t going to blush over a tap on the shoulder.
‘Ugh, so annoying.’
In short, he was a rock.
His expression never changed even during training.
He only gave a faint, mischievous smirk sometimes when he teased her.
And yet, his behavior was oddly considerate.
When they ate, he always poured water for her first and set everything up.
He always carried wet wipes on him, so whenever something got on her, he handed them over.
When her energy dropped from walking too long, he quietly handed her a piece of candy.
Every one of those little gestures was annoying.
He never touched her unnecessarily, yet constantly acted considerate—why did that make her irritated?
She didn’t know the reason, and she refused to ask anyone.
“Today’s the last day of this nonsense.”
“Yeah. Contractually, it ends tomorrow at 7 a.m., so once we wake up, it’s over.”
The final day approached.
As always, after finishing their showers, they lay side by side on the bed.
She was still on the very edge, as usual.
Ju-hyuk, exhausted from training, lay stretched out in the middle as always.
“So, you still don’t plan on telling me why you’re doing all this?”
“I told you already. I’m not telling you.”
“It wouldn’t kill you to just tell me, right?”
How petty.
After all the help she’d given him, he couldn’t even tell her why he forced this contract onto her.
Honestly, she wanted to run at least ten meters away from him out of sheer irritation.
‘If Mephisto hadn’t shoved that contract at me, I’d have run away already.’
If she did, he’d be the one in the weaker position.
If she became the dominant one, wouldn’t she get to see him flustered and scrambling?
She was enjoying the fantasy when Ju-hyuk suddenly said:
“There’s someone I’m more grateful to than you.”
“Someone you’re grateful to?”
“Yeah. Someone who helped me the most as a hunter.”
He rolled his shoulders and continued.
“I hid everything—even from that person. Stuff I can’t tell anyone.”
Ye-na.
The woman he met when he first started as a hunter.
Their first meeting wasn’t great, but they grew close after going through many things together.
Whenever hunter-related trouble arose, Ye-na took the lead and helped him. Thanks to her, he never struggled to find gates.
Even when he said he wouldn’t join the Mir Guild, she didn’t care and continued supporting him.
And he couldn’t even tell her this secret.
[You don’t have to join the guild, just promise you won’t get hurt.]
“So how could I tell someone else when I can’t even tell her?”
As he thought of Ye-na, a faint smile tugged at his lips.
“…”
Jia caught that faint smile instantly.
A smile he had never shown while with her.
From deep within her chest, something close to disgust bubbled up.
Before she realized it, her lips moved on their own.
“She’s a woman?”
“She is.”
“You like her?”
“It’s not like that.”
He didn’t look like he was lying.
Was he truly uninterested, or did he simply not understand his own feelings yet?
Either way, his fast response somehow soothed her bruised mood a little.
“I see.”
She let out a meaningless yawn.
Lying sideways with her chin on her pillow, tapping her feet against the mattress.
She turned her phone on, intending to distract herself, but her mind was flooded with thoughts.
She played random videos without watching them, switched to another, repeated that a few times, then spoke again.
“Don’t you think it’s unfair?”
“What is?”
“You’re getting something from me, but I don’t even know what it is—and I don’t get anything back.”
Sure, she could slack off thanks to Ju-hyuk, but that was separate.
Ju-hyuk was getting what he wanted smoothly because she cooperated fully.
But even if she completed the contract tomorrow, she gained nothing.
“You can’t get too far away because of the contract with Mephisto.”
“I mean, I shouldn’t, yeah. If I do, the penalty is just a really bad headache.”
Mephisto’s rule was simply that she had to cooperate as much as possible. It wasn’t absolute.
If she deliberately tried to distance herself, she’d get pain bad enough to want to die, and that would be it.
So she could ruin Ju-hyuk’s plans if she wanted to.
“But for some reason… suddenly, I don’t care about any of that.”
Right now, a lot of bad ideas were starting to tempt her.
“It’s been too easy for you, hasn’t it? Sticking with a pretty girl all day.”
“…Your jokes have increased lately.”
“I’m not joking.”
The atmosphere flipped.
The peaceful balance between them cracked from one impulsive mood shift.
There was no reason.
She just felt like it.
Ju-hyuk paused his stretching and looked at her calmly.
“What exactly are you upset about?”
“I told you already.”
Her dark circles were heavy, and her face had a slight scowl.
“You’re getting something. I’m not.”
Looking at her expression, he realized this probably wasn’t a serious issue.
She was just… pouting like a child whose toy wasn’t working right.
He managed to hold back a sigh and tried to soothe her.
“I’ll buy you bread next time.”
“You think bread fixes everything?”
“Then what do you want?”
What exactly did she want to be making such a fuss?
Since he couldn’t guess, he asked gently.
She answered immediately.
“I don’t know.”
“….”
She declared the absence of an answer with complete confidence.
For a moment he frowned, wondering what the hell this was—but then the intention behind her behavior clicked.
“Don’t tell me you’re trying to bring up joining Hyunho Candy?”
“You wouldn’t join even if I asked.”
“Of course.”
“Do you think I’d act like this if I thought it’d work?”
So it wasn’t that.
Then what did she want?
After thinking for a moment, Ju-hyuk suddenly found the answer.
“Stay still for a second.”
“Huh?”
He got up from the bed.
Then walked straight toward her—
“What are you doing?”
“Catching you.”
“Huh?”
And then he pinned her down from above.
“Kyaa! W-What are you doing!?”
“What else? Stopping you from running.”
If she wouldn’t answer, he’d hold her there until she did.
Very logical, in his opinion.
He hugged her tightly so she couldn’t wiggle free.
“L-Let go! I’ll scream!”
“Try it if you want your mouth covered too.”
“Y-You—!”
Her face burned bright red.
Her ears, which always reddened at the slightest touch, were now flaming as her whole body was pinned against him.
“Say what you want, or I’m holding you like this until 7 a.m.”
“L-Let go first!”
“And let you run? No.”
“I won’t run! Just let me go!”
“Say what you want.”
“You little—!”
It was a perfect checkmate.
Soon, she should’ve confessed what she wanted.
But strangely, she only blushed harder and didn’t say anything.
Instead, her face flushed even deeper, and she forced a smile, speaking in an unusually high-pitched voice.
“You think holding me like this will make me talk? As soon as you fall asleep, I’m slipping out and leaving the room!”
Every day she lost to Ju-hyuk.
Her pride, which was actually quite strong, hated the idea of blushing and flailing alone again.
If that was the alternative, she’d rather lie there like this until morning, clinging out of sheer stubbornness.
“You always sleep early, right? I pull all-nighters all the time. I’m totally awake right now. Too bad for you.”
These dark circles weren’t for show.
Since leaving the facility, she’d spent over ten years staying up nights gaming and watching algorithm-recommended videos.
Ju-hyuk, a guy who slept like a normal human, could never beat a professional night owl like her.
Confident of her victory, she smirked at him.
“Go ahead! Let’s see who holds out to the end.”
“…Fine.”
A small tantrum turned into a stupid pride contest.
Their bodies were pressed together so closely their breaths touched.
A few minutes passed like that.
It grew hot. Their bodies started to sweat. And slowly, they began wondering what the hell they were even doing.
But neither could stop.
Ju-hyuk awkwardly kept holding her.
Jia didn’t even try to escape anymore and just breathed harder.
When reason finally returned and she fully realized how embarrassing this was—
She was the first to speak.
“Um—”
“Jia~! Since it’s the last day, we all came to hang out!”
At that moment, the door burst open.
Several people—presumably staff from Hyunho Candy—piled into the room.
They didn’t even have time to react.
One moment they were lying on the bed; the next, the door flung open and people streamed in.
And then those people saw them—
the two of them wrapped around each other on the bed, sweating.
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
Those short syllables were all Jia could manage upon being caught hugging a man in front of her coworkers.
