CHAPTER 74: I HATE IT HERE

The last step was near him, and after that, no other steps followed. Cheon Areum put his arms at his sides and straightened up, his heart beating loudly as Yoon Seoyul snarled his arms around him, pulling him in for a hug. Cheon Areum’s cheek squished against his firm chest as Yoon Seoyul’s hands caressed the back of his head, ironing his hair.

"I would never do that."

Right, what did I expect from Yoon Seoyul....

Not wanting to surrender, Cheon Areum opened his mouth to convince him when he heard Yoon Seoyul speak again, making him swallow the words that had come up to his throat.

"Please don’t ask me to hit you ever again."

Forgetting to move away on time, Cheon Areum hurriedly and abruptly pushed off Yoon Seoyul. His plan had totally backfired on him. There really was no way he could make himself fall out of love just like that.

"Why are you always home? Don’t you have work to do? Go to your office."

"I can work from home too, unless it’s something important."

Yoon Seoyul followed after him as he walked out of the bedroom to the refrigerator, getting a cold bottle of water. He suddenly felt really thirsty. Uncapping it with a flick and sending the cap flying through the kitchen, Cheon Areum downed half of the water bottle.

"A gate appeared in Seoul Forest Park an hour ago. Do you want to go?"

Picking up the cap from the floor, Yoon Seoyul asked, taking the water bottle from him and drinking the other half.

"It’s not like I have a choice now. We need three members for the gate, right?"

Emptying the entire water bottle, Yoon Seoyul capped it.

"I can always switch out your position with someone else."

Cheon Areum stared up at him for a moment before turning away and replying.

"Why don’t you switch Lee Nari’s position with someone else?"

"I have already tried that."

And Lee Nari still being on their team meant he had been unsuccessful. Could fate not be changed, no matter how hard one tried?

*RING*

*RING*

Cheon Areum walked over to the smart intercom monitor with Yoon Seoyul in tow, as Lee Nari’s face revealed on the screen. She seemed quite intimidating without a smile.

"Don’t unlock the gate."

Yoon Seoyul said from over his head.

"We are going to the gate together anyway."

Pressing the unlock option on the screen, Cheon Areum stepped out of the house. Lee Nari, unlike before, had a honey smile plastered on her face as she cheerfully walked closer to them with her hands behind her back.

"Yoon Seoyul, give me a ride to the gate!"

"I don’t want to. Go in your own car."

"I have a flat tire. I can’t drive it."

Yoon Seoyul glared at Lee Nari, not a single eyelash fluttering to believe her words.

"You have a lot of other cars. They can’t all have a flat tire."

Not falling for the trick, Yoon Seoyul grabbed Cheon Areum’s hand, walking to the car with him. Lee Nari followed after them when Cheon Areum broke free from Yoon Seoyul’s grip and opened the backseat door.

"Lee Nari, you can sit in the passenger seat."

"You can’t."

"I want to sit in the backseat."

Yoon Seoyul and Lee Nari both spoke at the same time. Yoon Seoyul looked at Lee Nari, while Lee Nari looked at Cheon Areum. Ignoring both, Cheon Areum quietly sat in the backseat of the car, taking out his phone and starting a new match in his online game. A moment later, Lee Nari got in the passenger seat, with Yoon Seoyul in the driver’s seat.

*

"Are you not done yet?"

"Wait, my match is still going on."

Yoon Seoyul spoke, tapping the steering wheel of the parked car, waiting for his game match to be over. Lee Nari had already gotten out of the car, and the flashes from the reporters outside the car waiting interrupted him greatly as he was shot down by a hidden player in the game. Cheon Areum quickly put his phone in his inventory. Noticing Yoon Seoyul was about to get out of the car, he opened his car door before Yoon Seoyul could do it.

More white flashes covered his face, his vision darkening due to the brightness changes. Lee Nari was standing before him, talking with another woman dressed in a suit. A line of bodyguards were stationed to block the reporters or anyone else from getting too close. Behind the reporters, there was also a swarm of ordinary people screaming for Yoon Seoyul.

Walking through the path cleared out by the bodyguards, Cheon Areum ran into the park as if his feet were on fire. Then, at the entrance of the park, he was pulled back a step as his hand was caught by Yoon Seoyul.

"Why are you running away? Let’s go together."

"I... just don’t like the reporters or getting this much attention."

"I never thought you’d say that. I had always felt you liked being in the center of everyone’s attention."

Casually interlocking their fingers, Yoon Seoyul took Cheon Areum’s hand, forcibly dragging him along, making him walk beside him without giving him the chance to resist. Lee Nari joined them after a few seconds. The whole park had been closed due to the appearance of the gate outside the insect garden. Feeling uneasy from the start, Cheon Areum’s worst fears came true as the gate revealed its map.

The location inside was a thick jungle bisected by a sluggish river. From the very edges of the gate’s projection, insects of every shape and size could be seen squirming through the underbrush, flying above the trees, and crawling over every surface. Insects and bugs of all kinds could be seen without doing a deep search. Stuck in between stepping out of the gate or starting his exposure therapy from today, the five minutes passed by in the blink of an eye as the gate behind him closed and he was trapped with millions of small enemies.

I must be experiencing the worst 24 hours of my life.