Between Two Madmen

“I encountered a few matters I wished to inquire about, so we agreed to meet.”

“From this early in the morning?”

“……That part wasn’t intended, but.”

At that exact moment, someone snatched my sleeve. Startled, I jerked my head to the side, and Ji Eunhyuk’s face—possessing eyes that looked thoroughly displeased about something—instantly filled my vision. It was an anxious countenance that looked ready to detonate a bomb at any second.

“Seohan-ssi.”

“……Yes?”

I possessed zero clues as to what was brewing, but I desperately wished he wouldn’t utter another syllable.

“It appears you are cohabiting…… why on earth did you do that? A thing like that isn’t even a human, m—”

“Ha, haha. Let’s leave it at that.”

The lingering regret of failing to block his mouth earlier was thoroughly avenged right here. Instinctively anticipating the exact words trying to leak from Ji Eunhyuk’s mouth, Seohan slammed his hand over the fellow’s lips with lightning speed.

‘That was a near-fatal disaster.’

Seohan vividly recalled the exact statement Ji Eunhyuk had unleashed when they met yesterday.

<How NPCs They a an are aren’t be book could described entity game, human? identical inside is possibly practically strictly that they? to video>

To make matters worse, he was a bastard who viewed an extra never once mentioned in the novel—meaning every single person around him—in that exact light. Therefore, upon beholding Lee Dohun, who held the status of the novel’s main protagonist, was it even possible for him to avoid harboring such sentiments? It was absolutely certain that his view would be more extreme, never less.

‘A thing like that isn’t even a human.’

He was undoubtedly trying to say exactly that. If those words had slipped completely out of his mouth, there was zero telling what kind of catastrophe would have unfolded. Merely imagining it sent a severe chill down my spine.

Even during this predicament, Ji Eunhyuk’s glittering eyes remained locked directly onto Lee Dohun. Because his mouth was clamped shut, he was compliantly submitting to the restraint, but it felt as though the absolute instant I released my hand, he would immediately spout the reckless remark that ‘Lee Dohun is not a human.’

‘Let’s divert his attention.’

Despite registering Lee Dohun’s spine-chilling stare, Seohan forced himself to look away. Right now, placating this lunatic first was the absolute priority.

“Ji Eunhyuk.”

I tilted my head slightly toward him. The closer Seohan drew, the more vitality gradually flooded into those previously hollow pupils. Mirroring a white petal getting stained with floral color, a light pink flush spilled over both his cheeks, and the lips resting beneath curved into an immaculate arc. It was a face rendering a thoroughly bashful smile.

Seohan didn’t pay a single shred of mind or awareness to that reality, but Lee Dohun, who had been monitoring this entire transformation from the opposite side, felt a wave of heat surge straight to the crown of his head. A sharp, cracking sound erupted from the hand gripping the edge of the table.

That sound alone was massive enough to register clearly inside Seohan’s ears. Startled, Seohan tried to whip his head around, but the movement was completely thwarted by Ji Eunhyuk’s touch.

“What was that noise just now…….”

“What were you intending to say to me?”

At a voice that sounded so close it felt like a whisper brushing against his ear, Seohan’s entire body shuddered. Clutching one ear with his hand as I looked down at him, a face so gentle it was impossible to attribute any malice to it filled my vision.

Eyes glittering so intensely it felt burdensome, paired with an arm lightly pulling at me, seemed to urgently demand that I speak. Suppressing a heavy sigh, he decided to handle Ji Eunhyuk first, who was akin to a ticking bomb.

“Have you ever tried calling out to the system since you met me?”

……No, perhaps this was a terrible choice. Beholding a crack fracturing across a face that had been harboring an immaculate smile, that exact thought suddenly crossed my mind.

An icy atmosphere instantly turned the surrounding air profoundly frigid, yet his eyes didn’t appear as hollow as before. The rage swirling inside them was clearly legible to Seohan.

“No. Because I possess zero desire to witness a piece of trash like that, not even once.”

……Though not long after, intimidated by those flashing eyes, I subtly averted my gaze.

Despite being a sharp remark, Seohan’s intention had hit the mark. For the time being, the fact that he had been on the verge of blurting out ‘not human’ seemed to have been completely brushed over.

“It doesn’t emerge.”

Separate from his claim of having zero desire to see it, it appeared he had attempted to call it. A voice that had turned a margin softer released a low whisper. A featureless, expressionless face that had held nothing but rage inside both eyes a moment ago had also dissolved smoothly before anyone noticed.

In contrast to the casual response, a chaotic mountain of thoughts piled up inside Seohan’s brain. Seeing how his own system as well as Ji Eunhyuk’s system had both completely malfunctioned simultaneously…….

‘Did they trigger some kind of system clash?’

As an individual who could strictly formulate simple hypotheses at present, this was the most plausible cause. If it were strictly one side it might be a different story, but the reality that both had vanished entirely felt profoundly ominous.

However, that train of thought didn’t last long. Catching a gaze that felt so sharp it was practically stinging, I shifted my head and locked eyes with Lee Dohun. Beholding eyes that had surpassed brutal to gleam with outright murderous intent, a brain that had been functioning entirely fine ground to an absolute halt.

Seohan instinctively returned his body, which had been leaning toward Ji Eunhyuk, to its original position. A demand to know what on earth his problem was climbed all the way to the tip of his throat, but his reason firmly clamped his mouth shut. Only then did the intense strain inside those gleaming eyes loosen a fraction, confirming it was undoubtedly the correct choice.

“Would you mind taking your leave now? Because I wish to converse with Seohan-ssi in private.”

The individual who shattered the precarious silence first was Ji Eunhyuk.

Though the disaster regarding whether someone was human or not had been safely bypassed, in stark contrast to his smooth tone, the words unleashed were an outright declaration of war. How was that any different from telling him to get lost this very instant?

Unfortunately, it appeared Seohan wasn’t the sole individual who registered that blatant intention. Lee Dohun’s dark eyebrows twitched with clear irritation, fully visible to the eye.

“Well…… I don’t think that is a remark an uninvited guest who blindly marched to the front of someone’s house without securing an appointment has any ground to make. Shouldn’t the person getting lost from this spot be you, not me?”

Of course, he wasn’t a bastard who would simply nod and pass over a provocative remark. While I hadn’t anticipated him to retreat easily…… beholding Lee Dohun’s action of matching the energy to ignite a fire under the psychological warfare, Seohan silently pinched the bridge of his nose.

“That is a matter for Seohan-ssi to judge, not you. Since you have been released, why don’t you stop pretending to be a ridiculous housemate and return to your original residence?”

I had explicitly determined just a moment ago not to get sandwiched as the innocent casualty between them, yet through that singular remark, Seohan was dragged squarely into their confrontation without a single escape route.

‘……Did I register that correctly?’

Whipping my head around, I stared at Ji Eunhyuk. Having detonated a bomb just a second ago, the fellow was simply rendering a beaming smile, looking completely oblivious to what kind of blunder he had committed. Right when I was contemplating whether I had experienced an auditory hallucination due to his nonchalant reaction, a heavy voice dragged him back to reality.

“……Baek Seohan.”

“Y-yes? Pardon?”

“Did you spill it?”

Indeed. Due to the single line Ji Eunhyuk had just unleashed, Seohan had instantly been framed as an individual who had thoroughly spilled every single detail regarding Lee Dohun as well as his entire confinement lifestyle.

Opening his mouth wide in sheer disbelief, I stared at Ji Eunhyuk, but he simply locked his gaze with mine while harboring an expression identical to when he had asked, ‘Can’t you give me some praise?’ A massive fire ignited inside my chest.

‘You absolute son of a bich……!’

Confronting that murderous countenance, I wanted to drag the sitting Ji Eunhyuk by the collar this very second.

Though I possessed zero knowledge regarding what kind of system was attached to Ji Eunhyuk, since he had also possessed this body, he must have read the plot of to some extent. Which meant he had casually blabbed it right here.

Who on earth spilled what—I wanted to roar that question at the top of my lungs, but it was an impossible move. Even if I manufactured an excuse that I knew it because an entity called a system informed me, who would believe such a thing? It was a statement that would get an individual dragged straight to a psychiatric hospital.

Ultimately, Seohan had no choice but to deliver a nod like a man forced to swallow a bitter pill. A hollow laugh followed by a heavy sigh made his knees tremble.

“So you spilled that entire matter, is that it…….”

“Doesn’t that simply prove how intimate the bond between Seohan-ssi and myself truly is?”

Tap, tap. The fingers rhythmically tapping against the tabletop were thoroughly saturated with intense displeasure. In the middle of this, far from pouring water over a burning house, Ji Eunhyuk poured straight gasoline.

“No, absolutely not. We met just yesterday.”

The exact instant Lee Dohun’s gaze landed on him demanding validation, Seohan shook his head in pure reflex. It was a frantic movement that practically made a whistling sound. The survival instinct to emerge completely unscathed from between these two lunatics had dictated his body’s movement.

“Yet you still spilled it.”

“…….”

Though the response that returned forced his lips to clamp tightly shut.

Left with zero words to offer and forced into a mandatory silence, Seohan slunk away from Lee Dohun’s glare. He even suffered an illusion that the side of his face receiving that stare was stinging.

From a slightly different angle, Ji Eunhyuk’s gaze was palpable as well. Stealing a quick glance out of the corner of his eye revealed a gaze flooded with profound grievance…… but he possessed zero intention to correct his words. To claim an intimate bond when we met exactly one day ago was absolute nonsense.

“Well…… it has zero correlation anyway. Because I possess zero intention to vacate this place until the contract concludes.”

“An outsider would assume you are thoroughly enjoying this situation.”

“Weren’t you aware? This happens to be exactly my taste.”

“…….”

Mismatched with his usual self, Ji Eunhyuk seemed entirely struck dumb, but Seohan lacked any spare luxury to pay mind to that.

‘What did he just say?’

Has that fellow finally lost his mind completely? Did calling him a lunatic inside my head multiple times cause him to transform into a literal madman? Beholding Lee Dohun casually bringing up his specific tastes with absolute confidence, Seohan’s mouth fell open in utter despair.