Dusk (BL Light Novel)

I nodded in response to his question.
There was no way someone who only knew my nickname and maybe my real name could recognize me on sight. …Had I looked at him too rudely or something? But I could be sure that wasn’t the case. I’d been trained in eye contact and facial expression control since I was a kid. I’d never look at a stranger with a rude expression. Never.

“Ah… well.”
Kang Jaegyung seemed oddly sheepish, hesitating to answer. That only made me more curious, so I folded the paper bag the roasted chestnuts came in, looked him straight in the eyes, and pushed for a response.
“…Don’t people usually look when a cat walks toward them?”

“……”
If I used Shield Bash in real life, I’d probably get arrested for assault, right?
Seeing my dead-serious expression, he laughed awkwardly and tried to explain.

“Kidding. I just figured if someone got off on the 13th floor, there was a high chance it was you, so I was checking to see if it was Honeybread or someone else. I mean, you were really good-looking, so I had my doubts…”
…Fair enough. If I were sitting and waiting for Retaking and saw a guy like that walking up, I’d probably stare too.
But when two people make eye contact and one just keeps staring without looking away, isn’t that basically a challenge?

“You say that, but you were really staring. Like, not like you wanted to pick a fight, but not like love at first sight either…”
“Well…”
Jaegyung trailed off again, glancing at me before mumbling in a tiny voice.

“You didn’t look away either…”
Ah, right. He was one of those guys who had to win, no matter what.
“I mean, I get it, sort of… but still. Staring at someone like you’re trying to kill them? That’s not checking someone out—that’s just starting shit.”

“Trying to kill—! Come on, it wasn’t that bad.”
He bristled a bit, then deflated, fiddling with the corners of his eyes. …Wait. Was he self-conscious about looking intense?
Watching him sulk a little, I changed the subject naturally, half-talking to myself.

“Still, looking tough probably helps when you’re working. You said you were a bodyguard.”
I remembered my uncle once saying that for a bodyguard, looking intimidating was the biggest asset. But Jaegyung just gave a vague smile.
“Well… if you only look intimidating, it’s easier.”
That didn’t make much sense to me, so I stared at him. Noticing I was waiting for an explanation, he went on.

“In my case, people say I stand out too much. So it becomes a problem sometimes…”
And just like that, it made sense. That face made it impossible not to understand.
“After that, I started always wearing a cap or a mask. That way, people don’t really notice how sharp my face is. Not like I want to come off as scary anyway.”

“…Hmm.”
But it’s not like a hat covers your whole face. Like hell that face could be hidden by a cap. Even if you only saw his lips and jawline, they were so striking you’d still end up staring.
Same with a mask. It doesn’t cover your whole face, and hiding just the lower half wasn’t gonna do much when your face looks like that. If anything, it makes it worse. People are naturally drawn to eyes—and Jaegyung’s eyes, even on their own, were stunning enough to make someone stop and stare.

“A mask doesn’t really help, does it? You can’t hide the most important part—your eyes.”
“You can’t exactly wear a baseball cap with a suit.”
“Oh.”

Right… a suit. That’s true. Wearing a cap with formalwear would definitely look weird.
I nodded, murmuring with a bit of sympathy.
“The part that looks ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ scariest is your eyes. But that’s also the prettiest part, so you can’t walk around with your face uncovered, but you can’t fully hide it either… must be rough.”

After I said that, I waited for a reaction—but he didn’t say a word. He didn’t move either. I turned to check, and found Jaegyung just staring at me, wide-eyed.
I wondered if I’d said something wrong, but his eyes were sparkling so intently that it only made things more awkward.
Eventually, I had to ask him directly.

“…What?”
He immediately replied, like he’d been waiting.
“You think my eyes are pretty?”

…Where the hell did that come from?
“Yes.”
“But I’m a guy.”

Oh, so that’s what this was? One of those ‘I’m a guy, don’t call me pretty’ kind of things? But really, if you’re going to be that pretty, how are you gonna act like being called pretty is unfair?
“There’s no rule that says guys can’t have pretty eyes.”
“Usually people say guys are handsome. Doesn’t that creep you out?”

“Sure, but saying someone’s eyes are handsome is weird. Especially when they’re straight-up pretty.”
“…I’m pretty…”
“Honeybread-nim, Retaking-nim, this way please!”

Right then, a staff member called out to us from across the room. It was the perfect escape from Jaegyung’s strangely persistent line of questioning.
I jumped to my feet and grabbed his arm to pull him along. He let himself be dragged without resistance, but I could tell he was still watching me closely even after the interruption.
We showed the staff our invitations. She told us we’d need to log into our accounts in advance and gestured for us to follow her. Since she said we had to go through the hallway, I turned and beckoned my uncle over. We’d told the event staff earlier that my bodyguard would be accompanying me, so they didn’t try to stop him.

Even as we followed her down the noisy hallway, Jaegyung was still staring at me. So intently that I started wondering if this was a game and he’d actually used a lock-on skill or something.
“…If you’ve got something to say, just say it.”
I couldn’t hold it in anymore and gave him an opening. Jaegyung jumped at it.

“Am I pretty?”
Ah. So he wasn’t upset about being called pretty—he wanted to be.
This guy who looked like he’d probably been told he was pretty a million times… was still fishing for it. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it, but I figured, what the hell—if he’s pretty, he’s pretty.

“Yeah… you’re pretty.”
“You’re pretty too, Go-yeong-ssi.”
…So that’s what this was. Payback.

Without a word, I reached over and pinched his annoyingly solid arm.
***
We entered the stadium via the emergency stairs. The venue was huge—big enough to hold well over 800 people, staff included. It had a first and second floor, and the view from the second level was probably impressive as hell.

A massive LED screen hung center stage, the Dusk logo glowing clearly in the middle. On either side of the logo were two shadowed character silhouettes—ones I’d never seen before in the game.
New classes. I caught on immediately and studied the shapes carefully. Neither of them wore heavy armor, so they had to be in leather, light armor, or robes. The one on the left held something like a staff, while the one on the right had… that familiar puffball. A spirit silhouette.
Melee on the left. Ranged on the right. My gamer instincts were screaming it.

Jaegyung, who’d been watching the screen with me, spoke up excitedly.
“That’s new, right? Totally a new character class?”
“If you don’t know what it is, it’s 100% new.”

“Ugh, I wanna see it up close already. That one on the right feels like a Spiritcaller…”
He was clearly more interested in the ranged-looking one on the right. Made sense.
He’d always had a strong preference for ranged over melee. Even before he started Dusk, he was obsessed with long-range snipers in FPS games. His support-heavy personality meant his main champ was a sniper healer, but whenever a teammate rage quit, he’d pull out his sniper and pull off some dramatic comeback, boosting the pick rate for snipers in the process.

It wasn’t just FPS. Even in other RPGs or MOBAs, he always went for healer, support, or ranged DPS. I couldn’t remember a single time he’d chosen melee on his own. Maybe some long-reach melee characters, at best?
While we were talking, a staff member came running over from a distance. I recognized her from last year.