Dusk (BL Light Novel)

A petite female director greeted us with a bright, cheerful smile.
“Hello! You’re Honeybread-nim and Retaking-nim, right? I can’t tell you how relieved and happy we are to have the two of you here together. It’s such a pleasure. I’m Chae Eunji, the general director.”
Jaegyung and I bowed slightly and shook her hand in turn—she was much smaller than either of us.

“How are both of you this tall and this good-looking? This is going to be streamed live on IGN, so I just want to double-check—are you both okay with your faces being shown? We won’t do any extreme close-ups, but as we mentioned before, your photos could still end up online.”
She gushed as she guided us toward the stage, but her voice was tinged with concern. I nodded immediately—I’d already thought this through—and Jaegyung followed with a smiling “no problem.”
“You’re getting to officially PvP Honeybread. No way you’re gonna pass that up just because your face is showing, right?”

“Hahaha! Exactly, exactly. Still, I know it must’ve been a hard decision. Thank you both so much.”
The director laughed heartily at Jaegyung’s quip, then led us over to the PCs we’d be using during the match. From the audience’s perspective, Jaegyung would be on the left, I’d be on the right. She walked him to the left-side computer first and sat him down, explaining that all he needed to do was log into the official Dusk homepage and save his ID and password.
Despite how much he’d been running around outside, Jaegyung’s hands were pale and slender, and he typed without a single typo, alternating letters and numbers with mechanical ease. Every time his fingers lifted like he was playing the piano, the bones and veins on the back of his hands flexed. Yet they didn’t look fragile at all.

Someone had already logged in before us and saved their ID, so once we confirmed which account was Jaegyung’s, we crossed the stage to the right-hand computer for my turn. I sat down and entered my ID into the homepage like he had.
As I was typing, Jaegyung leaned close and lightly tapped my forearm, speaking in a mischievous tone.
“Is your ID really gonyanyanya?”

“You really had to read it out loud, huh.”
I could tell he wanted to tease me about it. Gonyanyanya was at least cute. His was sirforce, for god’s sake. At first, I thought it was some cool English word. Then I realized it was “sir. force”—a pun on Kang Jae-gyung—and I was left speechless.
“So it really is gonyanyanya, right? Say it. Read your ID out loud.”

“It is. Gonyanya—ah.”
I’d started to read it aloud mindlessly and stopped when I realized what he was up to. I shot him a glare as I sat in the chair, and he laughed way too happily, saying “What a waste.”
I sucked air through my teeth, rolled my lips, and punched him lightly in the thigh with my knuckles. It made a crisp chop sound, but his leg was so firm it hurt my hand.

“Ah. Ow.”
He claimed it hurt, but the corners of his mouth were twitching up in a grin. He didn’t even pretend to rub his leg. I shook out my stinging hand and stood up.
Still bickering like that, we got off the stage and walked over to the director, who was digging through a basket by the side of the stage. She pulled something out with a string attached and handed it to us, explaining everything clearly.
“Originally, the match schedule was going to go: Holy Guardian vs. Medic, Warrior vs. Priest, and finally Assassin. But we decided to move Holy Guardian and Medic to the end—it makes more sense that way. So you two will be the final match.”

Apparently, because Retaking was a streamer, they’d pushed our match to the end to maximize attention. I didn’t care, so I just nodded… until a sudden realization struck me like lightning.
I adapt quickly to new things. But Kang Jaegyung learns them faster. Which meant: I wouldn’t have any time to warm up on the new map, but Jaegyung would get to watch all the earlier matches and study the layout and rules in advance.
Meanwhile, I’d probably sit there like an idiot, mouth half-open, gawking at other rankers’ plays until I got obliterated. That’s… kind of unfair.

“And when you first come on stage, we’ll do a short intro and interview. Nothing too serious, so don’t be nervous. We’ll just ask things like why you picked your class or if your nickname has a story behind it. Then we’ll move right into the match prep. Obviously, since it’s live—no swearing, absolutely no exceptions!”
I’d been half zoning out thinking about the unfairness of the match order, but the strong emphasis on “no swearing” snapped me back to attention.
Right. No cussing. Got it. I nodded quietly, but Jaegyung suddenly took the opportunity to jab at me.

“Did you hear that, Bread-nim?”
What the hell. Does he think I’m the type to drop slurs on stream?
“Pretty rich, coming from the guy who flipped off an NPC out of pure spite.”

“That was my finger. Not my mouth.”
“Oh? Did you bug my room or something? You sound like someone who’s heard me curse before.”
“You do it real smooth when you do, though.”

I couldn’t take it anymore.
“…Wait. You heard me swearing at you?”
“You were mad ‘cause I played well. Said all kinds of things.”

“I never said a word.”
“Ahahaha! You two only just met, but you’re already such a perfect duo.”
The director laughed heartily and handed us nametags with our nicknames on them. Mine was a clean design inside a clear plastic tag: “Honeybread.”

“Don’t wait in line during entrance—just show this and head in. And… Retaking-nim, one of our staff will come get you toward the end for the signing event. We’ve got the paper and pens ready. You just need to bring your personal stuff and follow us.”
While I was admiring the nametag, she started talking about the signing event. Once it was confirmed that Retaking would attend, they’d announced the autograph session and ticket sales exploded. I remembered that madness secondhand thanks to Moon Seonhwa, who whined over KakaoTalk that she couldn’t get a good seat because her mouse slipped during checkout.
Speaking of which—I messaged Jaegyung when I got here, but I totally forgot to text Seonhwa. Feeling guilty, I pulled out my phone. As expected, I had unread messages, texts, and even three missed calls.

[Moon Seonhwa]
You here? 11:53
wyd?
wyd? 12:01
you should’ve been here by now
Did you meet Retaking??
Tell me EVERYTHING
You promised, you little shit
I’m dying of curiosity~~~ 12:05
wyd 12:09
w
y
d
w
y
d
…
Both texts and KakaoTalk were flooded with repeated “where u at” messages in shorthand. I quickly pounded out a reply with both thumbs.
[Me]
I got here and went to the 13th floor
Met Retaking
Just now checking my phone 12:27

As soon as the message sent, the “1” mark disappeared. So she really had been waiting. I felt a bit bad and ran a hand through ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) my hair.
Then my phone rang. It was Seonhwa.
“Uh…”

—“Where are you?”
I could tell how crowded it was just from the background noise bleeding through her voice. It wasn’t her voice under the noise—it was noise with her voice buried in it.
“I’m inside the stadium, getting ready for the match.”

I gave a half-assed answer and glanced around. While I was on the phone, the director had finished talking about the signing event and gave me a nod before running off toward the stage.
Jaegyung, standing nearby, caught my gaze and flashed another one of his picture-perfect smiles. Why did he keep smiling like that? It made me feel weirdly self-conscious, so I avoided his eyes and fidgeted with my nametag.
—“Where’s Retaking? You with him?”

“Yeah.”
—“So? What does he look like? Did you hang out together? Spill, dammit, I’m dying over here. I’m with Solo and we’re both losing it.”
How am I supposed to spill tea when he’s standing right next to me? Also—“Solo”? That had to be Soloist from our guild. Did she mention coming to the event?

“I’ll tell you later. Where are you now?”
Seonhwa muttered something about how unfair I was, then grumbled that she was at the 11th floor merch shop. But she quickly perked up and started rambling about something she’d prepared. I tuned her out and focused on the important part: the merch shop.
That place would definitely be packed, but if I went with Jaegyung, there’d be plenty to look at. Having Seonhwa and my uncle around would also make me feel a little less on edge.

I grabbed Jaegyung by the wrist without warning. My nametag was still in hand, so I used just three fingers, but his wrist was so slim I almost circled it entirely.
He blinked in surprise at the sudden move but let me pull him along without resistance. If I hadn’t been on the phone, he probably would’ve chirped like a little sparrow.
“I’ll be right there. Buy me lunch and wait.”

—“Oki. Anything?”
“Yup, whatever. Oh, get three portions.”
—“Three? Not two? Wait, no way. Hey—you didn’t—!”

Before she could fry my eardrum, I hung up. It looked like she was about to text again, but since I’d see her in person, I shoved my phone in my pocket and turned to the guy next to me, who had curiosity written all over his face.
Then I opened my mouth to speak.