Chapter 187

Shin Jae-heon had summoned me to my private training grounds.

I had no idea how he knew the layout of my villa so well.

“Stand down.”

As soon as I arrived, he chased everyone else away.

Once even my S-rank senses picked up no one nearby, I spoke up.

“You know my mansion’s layout better than I do.”

Shin Jae-heon let out a light chuckle at that.

“No way.”

Even as he said it, his casual attire made him look relaxed as he greeted me.

“……”

“……”

An uncharacteristic short silence settled between us.

It felt like the first time we’d properly faced each other in ages.

Probably since that day.

The day he cried.

We’d chatted a few times after that, sure, but those words all seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Even though we hadn’t had a real conversation.

Even though chatting with him had felt awkward.

A strange sensation gripped me, as if we’d parted just yesterday.

Proof that I’d been thinking about him constantly.

For some reason, my mouth felt parched.

“Busy?”

Shin Jae-heon asked abruptly. It was ridiculous—he was asking now that I was already here.

I spread my hands to the sides and shrugged.

“Super busy. Lady Carlenta just dropped by a bit ago, even…”

I trailed off mid-sentence.

Wait— I’d only mentioned a few hours ago that Lady Carlenta wanted to visit.

So this guy must have heard about her on his way here?

As if reading my mind, Shin Jae-heon picked up the thread.

“Saw the Carlenta carriage on the way.”

Of course. I scratched my cheek in disbelief.

“What’s up, showing up unannounced?”

I could’ve sworn I’d heard those words before. Right as déjà vu hit me…

“Missed you.”

His words overlapped eerily with mine from not long ago.

Memories of that day flooded back, leaving me speechless for a moment. Then Shin Jae-heon asked out of nowhere,

“Nervous?”

I couldn’t help but snort at that.

“Wouldn’t you be?”

The question was random, but obvious what he meant.

An L-rank dungeon inside an L-rank dungeon.

One that we’d taken the hidden route through, making it even harder than L-rank.

How could I not be scared?

I’m greedy like that—and I absolutely needed all four of us to make it out alive.

There would be all sorts of difficulties.

But we had to pull it off.

And…

That thought snapped me back, and I remembered something urgent.

“Right—we need to minimize injuries in our final dungeon.”

Shin Jae-heon narrowed his eyes at my words before asking,

“Why?”

Why? Well…

I hesitated before speaking.

So Yeri the hunter looked pissed enough as it was, but this guy with his Flame Sword skill? His reaction would be explosive, no doubt.

“Hunter Joo Yian, um.”

I was choosing my words carefully when Shin Jae-heon cut in.

“Her eyesight’s getting worse?”

“Yeah, that… You knew?”

How did this guy know? He nodded lightly.

“I know. Found out by accident.”

“When?”

“Late.”

Our Q&A flew back and forth rapidly.

I raised an eyebrow, and he held up both hands.

“Found out too late to stop it.”

True—he was the type who’d knock Joo Yian out cold to keep her from healing if he’d known sooner.

I let out a short sigh.

Either way, we couldn’t let Hunter Joo Yian lose any more vision.

That meant the dealer-tank duo of me and Shin Jae-heon had to change up our monster-handling tactics.

Good thing I’d gotten the ‘I’m Always in Front of You (SS)’ skill for Defense Form 1.

If I took point, I could minimize the damage—

“Still, don’t even think about taking the front.”

He said it like he’d read my mind.

Then you’d take front? I raised my eyebrow again in disbelief.

“Forgot I got an SS-rank defense skill?”

And it was S-rank to boot.

My stats had even surpassed my old Galactic Server values.

I was better suited for the front.

But Shin Jae-heon insisted,

“Still.”

He paused, then added,

“The promise stands.”

His deep blue eyes stared straight into mine.

“The one where I die before you.”

His voice echoed quietly through the training grounds.

I narrowed my eyes.

“You…”

A surge of anger welled up inside me.

Why had I been so frantic? The first thought that hit me when I heard ‘L-rank dungeon’ was exactly this!

I hated it.

I hated talk of dying more than anything.

My lips twisted.

“Told you not to say that.”

Shin Jae-heon shot back immediately.

“Then it’s fine if you do it?”

I bristled without thinking.

“Th—that—!”

Yeah, talking to this guy would get us nowhere.

We both had the same unyielding goal.

“Fine. If that’s what you came to say, I’m out.”

I turned to leave.

—Click.

Shin Jae-heon, who’d closed the distance, grabbed my arm.

“Where you going?”

“Where am I going?”

I whipped around to face him. I couldn’t help frowning.

“If your friend showed up saying, ‘In case of emergency, I’ll die first, so heads up,’ would you just sit there nicely?”

One of Shin Jae-heon’s eyebrows shot up at my words.

“Friend.”

He muttered low, then huffed a short sigh and pinched his forehead.

“……”

I thought a long silence would envelop us.

Then he asked,

“So if it wasn’t a friend—if it was some other guy—would that be okay?”

“What?”

The out-of-left-field remark left me wondering what he meant.

He took a step closer.

Just as I noticed a strange heat in his deep blue eyes…

“If we’re not friends, can I die in your place?”

—Click.

Before I knew it, I’d backed up against the wall.

A strange heat filled the space between the wall and him.

He hadn’t even trapped me—just my back against the wall.

But all I could feel was his breath.

Those ocean-deep eyes stared right at me.

‘……’

I remembered the day tears had welled up in them.

Back then he was crying; now he looked angry. But somehow, he seemed to be crying both times.

“Then I won’t be your friend anymore.”

He said. My eyes widened.

His words filled my blank mind.

“No—I’ve never been your friend. Maybe I was to you, but not to me.”

“What—”

I didn’t even have time to stupidly ask again. He bit his lip and continued.

“Like this.”

Releasing a hot breath, he went on.

“Just thinking about it—about you being gone—drives me insane.”

His cracked voice.

A voice thick with thirst and heat echoed between us.

“At some point, the world without you terrified me so much that I thought I’d rather die first. That’s when it stopped being friendship.”

I couldn’t tear my gaze from those clouded eyes.

As if the whole world had shrunk to this narrow space between the wall and him, I couldn’t move.

Trapped in his gaze.

“I’ve never been your friend.”

Shin Jae-heon said. I listened, barely breathing.

“You kept calling me friend, friend—even when I felt like I’d lose my mind—you were my friend to you. But to me, you haven’t been just a friend for a long time. You were…”

He bit his lip, clenched his fist tight.

“My universe.”

He tugged the corner of his mouth up.

“Sounds cliché?”

His eyes, somehow deeper now, bored into me.

“At some point, my whole life—my routine, my home, everything I cared about—was all in your hands or tied to you.”

His low voice resonated.

“Never once did it bother me. Not even a little. It felt natural. So you were my universe.”

He watched me with unshaken eyes.

But I swear—he looked like he was crying.

“I couldn’t dare ask my universe to love only me, so I stayed quiet. But really—”

He bit his lip again, then said,

“If I’m gonna die, if I can’t take it, don’t I have to just blurt it out somewhere? Right?”

He flashed a hazy smile.

And then, in a way that felt neither strange nor out of place—like something that had whispered endlessly in my ear for years,

Something I’d ignored, but so familiar.

He whispered,

“I like you, Shin Yuri.”

“Ah…”

I parted my lips slightly.

“I know what you want.”

He leaned in toward me.

Into the distance I’d always secretly hoped he’d close.

“But I like you too much. Can’t look away.”

—Click.

He drew even closer.

“So.”

He lightly pressed his index finger to my lips.

“Let’s date.”

Secret dating.

The moment my eyes widened, he pressed his lips to mine.

Another invasion.