Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[Kang Jaekyung]
When I hit the search button, an unfamiliar profile popped up. Since I had copied the ID exactly as Retaking gave it to me, there was no way it was anyone else. I stared silently at the name listed on the profile.

…The name was prettier than I’d expected. Apologies to any living, breathing Kang Jae-sus out there in South Korea, but it definitely had a nicer ring to it than “Kang Jaesu.”
This time, I tapped the profile picture. It was a group photo of nearly twenty people, most of them wearing black suits. Since he’d said his job was bodyguard, it was probably a picture with his company colleagues. If he was still going to work despite being told to quit, and even set that photo as his profile pic, it meant he had some real attachment to his company.
I stopped snooping through his profile and opened a 1:1 chat.

[Me]
If you keep living like that, you’re gonna get sucker punched, break your nose, and crack your teeth.
ㅇㅅㅇ 13:47
It was basically an unprompted curse, but Retaking caught on that it was me right away and checked the message ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) in a flash.
[Kang Jaekyung]
ㅎㅎ
Sounds like a rare experience—looking forward to it. 13:47

He took it all in stride. As if to say, Well, any consequences are for future me, so who cares? I couldn’t tell if it was bravado or if he had some kind of hidden ace up his sleeve.
Either way, it was kind of funny, and I found myself smiling without realizing. I forced the corner of my mouth back down and started tapping at the phone again.
[Me]
Well... we’re chatting now, I guess
But honestly, I’m not the type who talks a lot over Talk
Just so you know 13:48

[Kang Jaekyung]
Same here.
I don’t message much either—just check occasionally and talk if I feel like it.
Think of it like casual messages between friends.
For example...
Hmm...
If you get mad after losing a streak to me and message me, I’ll comfort you^^ 13:48
Excuse me? You’re the one who loses streaks all the time.
[Me]
So if I message you after losing a streak... 13:48
You want me to ask for comfort? ^^ 13:49

[Kang Jaekyung]
ㅋㅋ
Guess we’ll find out today
Let’s see who ends up on the losing streak first 13:49
[Me]
ㅋ 13:49
I sent a single “ㅋ” to convey mockery, and of course, Retaking sent back a single “ㅋ” of his own just as smugly.

Talking like this really did feel like chatting with a friend. Even though we knew each other from the game, we hadn’t exactly had any proper conversations like Seonhwa had pointed out—and we’d never really done raids or PvP together like guildmates. So I’d figured messaging him like this would feel awkward.
[Kang Jaekyung]
Ah, also
Would it be okay if I edited the video you sent and uploaded it to my channel?
I thought it might work well if I cross-edited it with the Combat Medic storyline.
If it was just for me, you can totally say no.
I’d still appreciate it either way.
(emoji) 13:50
Not only was he polite by default, but he was oddly good at being sociable, too. Even while using honorifics the whole time, he spoke in a way that felt warm, like he was an old friend. Thanks to that, I also fell into the tone naturally and continued the conversation with ease.

[Me]
So you're telling me...
You're gonna take the engagement ring I gave you and put it on display in a museum so everyone can see?
How could you do this to me??? 13:51
[Kang Jaekyung]
Oh come on, you're twisting it like that?; 13:52
Watching him get flustered made me laugh softly as I sprawled out on the bed. Yeah—he and I had been joking around like this since before we even knew each other well. If we were going to hurt each other or pull shady tricks, we would’ve done it a long time ago. Maybe we both subconsciously knew that about each other.
So even after Moon Seonhwa left the house, saying it was time for his appointment, I was still glued to my phone for a while.

Post title: Wow, Retaking’s stream energy has been super high lately lol
Author: [Bia] sorryIWasTooLoud
Must be something good going on, lmao. Cute.
(Comments: 7)

– Is this still Dusk’s general board or a Retaking fan shrine?
 └ [Author] lol sry but talking about Retaking here gets hella engagement
– Was it two days ago? He kept checking his phone a lot. Something’s definitely up.
 └ [Author] A lover? A flirt?
  └ If it is, I want the tea later ><♡
  └ Nah, heard he got that Holy Guardian video from Honeybread
   └ [Author] Oh, that? Okay, fair. That explains it lol
***
TIP – Healing has long been considered a forbidden magic, permitted only with divine sanction by priests. The Shin-Ah Tribe began researching the foundations of healing in secret, eventually developing the medical arts now used by Combat Medics.

***
Listening to his sweet voice through the headset, I hit the now-activated launch button after the patch finished installing.
Retaking was relentless. Once he got hooked on something, he’d vanish completely without a word, only to return later with a full-blown report that turned the whole place upside down. He’d even disappear mid-conversation if he needed to chase something down.

…Not that I was saying this because he disappeared last night during our Talk and didn’t reply again until this morning when he suddenly went live again.
Just that—with that kind of focus and drive, if he’d gone into academia or journalism, he probably would’ve made it big. (Let’s set aside whether it’s actually possible to “make it big” as a journalist.) Even now, he was practically running an academic seminar through his livestreams, dishing out analysis to his viewers.
― “The glowing figure we saw in the video I got from Honeybread clearly had a human silhouette. If you only looked at that, you’d think it was a Shin-Ah Tribe character. But the wings attached to that figure weren’t insectoid like the Bia or Jeopa races—they were bird-like.”

…Actually, scratch that. It wasn’t like a seminar. It was a seminar.
― “Based on this child and the Hidden Quest we completed, I’ve narrowed down the potential direction of the next large-scale update into three main categories. First: a new playable race. Second: new region and monsters.”
He paused to sip from the mug in his hand. I didn’t know what he was drinking, but it was definitely sweet.

After blowing on it, he finally set the steaming mug down. Guess it was still hot since he’d only just brought it. Hope he burns his damn tongue.
The chat went wild at the mention of a playable new race. Understandably so—while the moth and butterfly theme of Bia and Jeopa was unique and charming, birds were cuter and more approachable to the average player. I mean, if you had to pick between beetle-man and alpaca-man, most people would choose the alpaca.
But since I already knew Dusk’s world was definitively centered around the Bia and Jeopa races, all this fuss just seemed like empty hype to me.

Retaking, smacking his lips slightly, continued.
― “And third: a new class or faction.”
I nodded along at the first two—new race, new monsters, new region. But when he suddenly dropped “new class or faction,” my eyes widened.

― “If you look directly at this Hidden Story, it explores the contradiction of the god elevated as an absolute being in Dusk’s world, and the internal conflict of the Shin-Ah Tribe—those who believe in the god through the Witeraheat faction versus those who oppose it.”
Just as Retaking said, the Hidden Story was heavily focused on the ideological tension between the Witeraheat and Aitetas factions, and the uncertainties that sprouted from it. The paired classes for the Hidden Story also matched: Holy Guardian with Combat Medic, and Warrior with Priest. Assassins had ambiguous affiliations and were paired with each other, and their story explored lives caught between both factions—so yeah, it was all connected.
― “In that context, I considered a shared hypothesis across the quests: What if one side switched factions? For example, Abrea, the Bia Holy Guardian NPC, differs from his deeply devout younger brother ‘Hwa,’ a high priest. Abrea constantly questions the god, yet endures the temple life he doesn’t fit into, for the sake of his brother.”

“Then, in this Hidden Story, he encounters Adam—the Jeopa Combat Medic NPC closest to discovering the truth about the gods. Adam fell into nihilism after learning the truth, but that only proves how firmly his convictions are rooted, so it’s nearly impossible for him to change factions. In contrast, Abrea lacks conviction. He follows the gods not by choice, but due to birth and blood. ZeroSoft has been hammering that into us all along. Which leads us to the conclusion: ‘Abrea may gain conviction through Adam—and cross over to the Aitetas faction.’”
It reminded me of those online lecture videos I used to binge when cramming for college entrance exams. I couldn’t even keep up with notes, but the teacher would already be ten slides ahead. Still, since I knew the story, I could at least follow the logic.