Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[- Abrea: “Hey, have you ever studied the Jeopa language?”]

Of course not. According to the storyline, the Jeopa language differed entirely from the Bia language—not just in pronunciation and vocabulary, but in sentence structure itself—such that linguists were still in the midst of research. My character simply shook his head.
Just then, I saw Adam’s gaze briefly flick in my direction before returning to Abrea.
[- Abrea: “Think of a way to tell this bastard to back off because I touched this ore first.”]

If you use special characters, you could probably manage it. Something like “|_ |-| 7 -| 0 |=” might work?
Of course, that was just a thought that stayed inside my head, never to be conveyed. Since my character wasn’t aware of that idea, he simply shrugged helplessly.
[- Abrea: “I felt something from that ore. It might be a crucial clue, and if the Jeopa bastards get their hands on it, it’d be as good as losing in terms of intel.”]

▷ But this is a neutral zone. If we mess up, we might get kicked out and lose our chance to investigate further.
▷ This person is dangerous. If we make a wrong move, not just our investigation party, but every living thing in this area could be at risk.
▷ Then let’s just snatch it first.

Three dialogue choices popped up. And I had a whopping 15 seconds to choose.
If the timer ran out, a random option would be selected, and the story would continue without issue—but since it was more fun to see the outcome of a choice you’d actually made, I quickly scanned through them. The first two were reasonable and boring. But the third? The third one was so absurd, so completely unhinged that I instantly liked it.
[- Then let’s just snatch it first.]

As soon as I said that, Helkina sharply narrowed her eyes and glared at my character. When Honeybread tilted his head in a "what’s the big deal?" kind of way, she clutched her forehead like she was absolutely exasperated.
Abrea, on the other hand, didn’t seem to hate the suggestion. He blinked a few times, then shot his hand toward the ore on the stand at the speed of light.
But Adam wasn’t going to go down easy. Without even blinking, he grabbed Abrea’s wrist faster than light and slammed it down right next to the ore with a loud bang. A few people nearby gasped in shock—or maybe awe—as their voices leaked out like sighs.

The grip must’ve been strong; Abrea winced as he stared at the hand Adam had caught. And even then, Adam never looked away from him. On the contrary, his gaze grew sharper, as if to say, “What kind of crap do you think you’re pulling?”
Watching from the outside as Adam stared at Abrea without so much as a twitch reminded me of those calm, persistent psychopathic serial killers from thriller films that center around murder.
[- Abrea: “……Now what? This is a Hoa-assigned mission. If I fail, Hoa’s the one who takes responsibility……”]

His sharp gaze at Adam hadn’t faded, but his voice had noticeably lost some of its bite.
A deflated Abrea, of all people. It was like having a piece of meat stuck between your molars—irritating and unsettling. Abrea, who was always grumbling and cynical and full of complaints, had always brimmed with the certainty that he was never wrong and would never lose. I’d never seen him like this before.
If it were up to me, I would’ve thrown neutral zone rules to the wind and smashed that bastard Adam’s wrist into pieces. But I was just a player—just someone who could only stand (or sit?) and passively watch the predetermined storyline unfold.
That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, a small message popped up above the script box.
[The other party is choosing a dialogue option. 15 seconds remaining.]
…The other party is choosing a dialogue option? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

What was even stranger was that the countdown was decreasing in real time—14 seconds, 13 seconds, and so on. It was as if this story cutscene was being shared with someone else.
After that message appeared, no matter what key I pressed, the script wouldn’t advance. The game just froze in place.
It °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° was the first time anything like this had happened, and I was flustered. But then the message disappeared, and the screen transitioned into the next script.

[? - itivn, uizii kovnivmwaut. ziikiicki kivoovm xiioqior vnautki bilkiutvnwiycii.]
What the fuck did he just say?
The camera followed my character’s gaze as it shifted toward the one who had just spoken in utter gibberish. And right then, my eyes widened, and a startled, unfiltered gasp escaped from my mouth.

Pale yellow sclera with snow-white irises, stark white hair, a Jeopa Supreme Commander’s exclusive Medic uniform adorned with sleek golden embroidery and ranking cords, and in his hands—the Radiant Dawn Codex, the final weapon available to Jeopa users. It was a character I knew far too well.
The one spouting that incomprehensible alien nonsense and walking out from between the NPCs was none other than Retaking a Class.
Post Title: zㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Retaking and Honeybread, those two

Posted by: [Bia] Jin-Do Fraud, GTFO
They’re probably soulmates or something... ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
So this is what destiny looks like.

(Comments: 78)
【Best Comment】 People suddenly started freaking out on the board about shipping actual people together, so I’m here to clarify. This main quest has a hidden story > Retaking and Honeybread both triggered it > Turns out it’s a pair story > Retaking showcased it on stream and Honeybread appeared as his pair > So that’s why everyone on the board is writing fanfic now. But seriously, it’s not even the first time these two have been paired up. Just accept it already.
【Best Comment】 The fact that the hidden story pairs two different races is wild, but not as wild as these two being the pair.

【Best Comment】 If they started dating, I’d honestly be fine with it.
└ Honestly, even if Retaking went on stream and said, “Um... actually, I’ve started dating Honeybread,” I wouldn’t be surprised.
└ Isn’t Honeybread a dude though, ew gross.

└ No one ever confirmed his gender though. └ And even if he *is* a guy, so what? This is basically fate at this point. └ True that. └ Are you serious?
These two are seriously unhinged; ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
If Honeybread joins the showcase and Retaking shows up too, it’s gonna be insane.

└ ZSoft (*ZeroSoft) needs to make money—if they invited Retaking, of course they’d invite Honeybread too. I’m 100% going to this live event.
Can Honeybread please stream too? I’m dying to see his reaction.
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ No but seriously, I’d love that

… (More comments below) …
***
TIP – Though the Jeopa and Bia races are rivals, they require a degree of communication. Linguists from both factions gathered to study the languages, but were baffled by their fundamental incompatibility. They also failed to create a shared common tongue.

***
It looked far too much like Retaking to be an NPC. No—this was Retaking.
I remembered how he’d once worn the Supreme Commander’s uniform for the first time, said it didn’t match his character’s look, bought an Appearance Change Ticket, and redid the whole thing. I remembered how proudly he’d shown off the results on stream, saying he’d nailed it. So I knew every detail: the shape of his pupils, the slant of his eyes, the color and style of his hair—everything, etched into my brain.

Most of all, the weapon. It was the Radiant Dawn Codex—an exclusive player weapon, and it even had a +12 enhancement effect glowing around it. Even if an NPC somehow had that weapon, it wouldn’t be enhanced. So yeah. It was him.
My head was spinning. Okay, so this hidden quest forces you into a storyline with a user from the opposing race—fine, I could accept that. But Retaking? Retaking and me in a main quest together?
Did ZeroSoft stage this whole thing for noise marketing?

The story cutscene, unaware of my turmoil, didn’t give me a second to breathe and continued rolling forward.
The camera, which had focused on Retaking, shifted back to Adam. Adam glanced briefly at Retaking, sighed, and gave a slight shrug. Then, as if resigning himself to the inevitable, he let go of Abrea’s wrist.
[- Helkina: “Officer Abrea! I know you’re impulsive by nature, but this time you’ve really crossed the line! What if he unleashed a plague because of you?”]

Helkina raised her voice and approached Abrea, clearly thinking the situation had settled down. Even as she did, she kept glancing toward Adam—but he didn’t seem to care one bit about whether she was coming over or not.
Abrea, wearing a face full of protest, held out the ore to her.