Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[Gang Jaegyung]
No. 01:37
[Me]
It’d be easier for both of us if we just exchanged it by delivery.
Why the hell are you saying no. 01:37
[Gang Jaegyung]
I want to exchange it face-to-face with you, Go Yeong-ssi. 01:37

[Me]
Why. Seriously. 01:37
[Gang Jaegyung]
Things were good between us… 01:37
[Me]
Good memories
are meant to stay memories. 01:37

[Gang Jaegyung]
Don’t be ridiculous.
You agreed to meet me anyway. 01:37
We can eat something nice and swap the badge then.
Don’t tell me you were planning to disappear after that?
Are you serious? 01:38
[Me]
Just give me your address. 01:38
[Gang Jaegyung]
No.
That’s my precious personal infoㅠ 01:38

[Me]
Fine, forget the full address.
Just give me your unit number.
I’ll look it up in navigation. 01:38
[Gang Jaegyung]
Eeeeeeiiiiiingggg 01:38
[Me]
Cut it out. 01:38

[Gang Jaegyung]
I already made a whole plan to hang out with you, Go Yeong-ssi.
Please take pity on this pitiful mess and hang out with me… 01:38
[Me]
Dusk, let’s go. 01:38
[Gang Jaegyung]
How can you be like this? 01:38
Just watch.
I’m gonna make you want to meet me so bad. 01:41

[Me]
What are you even planning; 01:42
[Gang Jaegyung]
Just wait and see. 01:42
***

TIP — The Holy Commander skill deals powerful damage to enemies with the Omen debuff in the same field, and has a 50% chance to inflict instant-death on enemies below 40% HP.
***
— “‘I’m gonna make you want to meet me so bad.’ Damn, that’s pretty bold.”
When I told her about the messages I exchanged with Gang Jaegyung, Moon Seonhwa responded teasingly through voice chat. I let out a long sigh while my fingers mechanically helped her through the dungeon.

Bold, my ass… Ever since then, every time we ran into each other in-game, he acted like some poor guy who’d died and couldn’t talk shit anymore. At first, he kept picking fights like usual whenever we ran into each other at Atelierna, but then he started mimicking what I used to do—being petty at the base just to get my attention.
And then every time he won, he’d send a smug ‘ㅋㅋ’ through chat like a jerk, probably hoping I’d snap and say “Come out right now, you bastard.” Like I’d fall for such a cheap provocation?
Gang Jaegyung knows me too well.

I knew I shouldn’t take the bait, but those damn ‘ㅋㅋ’s had too much power. I was holding back by the skin of my teeth. Times like this made me curse my own inability to ghost people. This is exactly why I avoid AOS games—makes me too salty.
God, this is so annoying. This all happened because the badges got switched. Why did that careless bastard of all people have to mess up and accidentally swap our job badges?
And why, in this day and age where the logistics industry is so advanced you can send a package from the convenience store at the corner of your street, is he insisting we meet in person to exchange them? Fucking lunatic.

— “Still, you want to get out of the house anyway, don’t you? Might as well use this as an excuse.”
Moon Seonhwa, who knew my situation, seemed to back him up while pretending to be neutral. Useless decade-old friendship.
“I don’t want to. I get edgy when I go outside. 3 o’clock on the safe zone.”

— “Oof, almost went the wrong way mid-convo. Anyway, isn’t he a bodyguard? Shouldn’t that be better than meeting with some random stranger?”
“I didn’t hire him. It’s not like we’re meeting on the job—he’s not gonna be all professional.”
— “Could be he has occupational habits though.”

Was she bribed or what? While DPSing from behind the boss, Moon Seonhwa stubbornly kept pushing the idea that maybe I should meet up with Gang Jaegyung. Traitor.
— “What I mean is, even if you say all that, deep down you do wanna go out. And if that’s the case, isn’t he the perfect person to try it with?”
Well… She wasn’t wrong.

Ever since I started staying in all the time, I’d been feeling trapped. I did want to go outside. And if Gang Jaegyung was there, he was a bodyguard, so I’d probably feel more secure. Plus, the guy never shuts up—he’d distract me from panicking.
But what I was afraid of wasn’t going outside.
It was the fact that Gang Jaegyung was sharp.

If he figured out that I’m scared to walk around outside because of something that happened when I was a kid, I’d die of embarrassment. If Solo found out, it wouldn’t be as bad, but if he figured it out—
“If he sees me flinch just because I’m nervous?”
— “Ah, so that’s the problem?”

“I don’t want him to notice.”
— “Pride, huh… Honestly, I think this is your chance. If you just swallow your pride once, going out might stop being so scary. With the way Retaking a Class is, I don’t think he’d mock you or anything.”
“Him?”

— “Didn’t he seem really put-together when we met him that time?”
…Where, exactly?
I wracked my memory and realized: when he met Seonhwa and Solo, Gang Jaegyung had been unusually calm. Wow. So he was faking it for appearances. When it’s just me, he’s constantly poking at me, whining, and looking for weaknesses to tease.

If he finds out I can’t go outside alone, he’ll absolutely hit me with something like, “Did you age for nothing or what?”
“It was an act.”
— “An act?”

“He whines constantly, and he goes out of his way to pester me.”
— “But he looks all chilly and serious, and he acts like a total brat? That’s kind of cute.”
“Oh, come on.”

…Okay, yeah, it was kind of cute.
— “If you really don’t want to, that’s fine. But just think about it, okay?”
“Mm.”

— “God, that’s a half-assed answer.”
“Because I’m not into it.”
— “You’ve gotta get better so we can hang out again. It’s been over two years since we last went anywhere together.”

Just as the final boss’s health dropped low, our talk came to a natural end. We finished the dungeon without issue. While Seonhwa cooled her grumbling, I picked up the loot and handled the distribution.
[Party] Honeybread: good work
[Party] Jormungandr has left the party.
[Party] Sillonti: goo~d work
[Party] Sarangsi: gg gg
[Party] Ink: gg
[Party] Ink has left the party.
“This it?”

— “Nope, we still gotta do the Maze.”
“Do that on your own.”
— “Oki, thanks for tanking.”

I left the dungeon and exited voice chat with Seonhwa. Outside the dungeon, a bunch of Via tribe players were grouped around the base looking for party members. I half-expected Gang Jaegyung to be camped out there waiting for me, but I guess even he wouldn’t pull something that reckless on a Thursday—reset day for weekly quests.
Still, even as I tore a teleport scroll and warped back to the guild house, I couldn’t shake the subtle feeling of unease. Took me a minute to realize it was because Gang Jaegyung had been suspiciously quiet today.
We hadn’t bumped into each other once while he was streaming, and I hadn’t heard a single thing about him being petty in-game. It’s not like he gave up on seeing me.

It felt like that calm right before a storm.
As I pushed open the gate to the guild house, I was greeted by a surprising sight—RomanticCat was standing blankly in front of her house. She’s a working adult, so she never logs in at this hour on weekdays. Must’ve logged in just for the new wall and decor updates after the latest patch.
[Guild] Honeybread: yo Romantic~
[Guild] Honeybread: when’d you get here
[Guild] RomanticCat: yo yo
[Guild] RomanticCat: just now

Romantic was the one who used all her savings to buy a house in-game—because “it’s impossible to buy one IRL these days.” While other guildies didn’t care about houses, she poured her heart into it. Once a legendary warrior, now reclusive and forgotten, she’d vanished from the rankings only to reemerge as a top name in crafting professions and interior decor.
[Guild] RomanticCat: there’s a new table set and it’s so cute
[Guild] RomanticCat: but the damn yard makes the house feel cramped
[Guild] RomanticCat: don’t even want a yard
[Guild] RomanticCat: it’s annoying
[Guild] RomanticCat: I just want a nice little 50-pyeong place without a yard
Other people were begging for bigger yards to farm on, so this was pretty funny. With how rare yards are in modern Korean houses, you'd think she’d want one.

I scrolled through her fiery rant and started typing.
[Guild] Honeybread: maybe try requesting a wider building coverage ratio?
[Guild] RomanticCat: ?
[Guild] RomanticCat: no clue what that means but go for it
Guess I’ll talk to my brother when he logs in next. Wonder if he’ll show up soon?

[Guild] RomanticCat: go file a request then come field with me
[Guild] RomanticCat: protect me while I gather materials
[Guild] Honeybread: aren’t you at work?
[Guild] RomanticCat: nah manager’s out on a trip today
[Guild] Honeybread: ooh
[Guild] Honeybread: let’s go then
[Guild] RomanticCat: you did send the request properly, right?
[Guild] Honeybread: of course
Because I’m passing it straight to the CEO.
And with that, I headed back out to Atelierna with RomanticCat, now officially slacking off from her job. The materials we needed were: eight Sunset Stem Flowers from regular mobs, and two gatherables—Moonroot Sprout and Mossrock Crevice Leaf.

The monsters would be easy. I’d help kill and she’d collect the drops. But since my gathering level was too low to assist with gathering, that part would take a little longer. All I had to do was keep nearby Zepa tribe mobs off her while she gathered.
We moved to Base 46 to hunt Sunset Stems. The Zepa tribe ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) players must’ve been busy farming elsewhere because there wasn’t a soul in sight. Weird. There should’ve been some wandering around even after they finished farming. Maybe there was a battle happening somewhere?
Either way, we weren’t here to PvP—we were here to gather. Lucky us.

I pulled in a bunch of Sunset Stem mobs from nearby and dumped my entire skill rotation on them. Thanks to Romantic’s fully geared kill-build, they melted in seconds.
But whether or not they dropped the stems we needed… well, that was another matter.