EFME 43

Soon, Jeong Dakyung came to the guild master’s office.

“Hello, Guild Master. Hi to you too, hyung.”

“Yeah. Did you have a good dungeon run?”

“Of course. I think I was perfect this time……. I totally hard carried.”

Dakyung confidently made a V-sign with his fingers.

“That’s amazing. I just froze up when I went to the dungeon….”

“Hehe.”

Dakyung basked in Sunyul’s admiring gaze, then said it was time to go and turned around. Sunyul said goodbye to Muyoung and followed Dakyung out.

“Let’s play a round of a game and then go read some comics.”

“Let’s do that.”

Sunyul’s terrible gaming skills had gotten a little better thanks to Dakyung. Of course, he still died early in the game, forcing Dakyung to hard carry…….

After they finished playing, Sunyul casually asked Dakyung a question.

“When’s your birthday?”

“Me? November 23rd.”

“……It’s passed then?”

“Yeah, it has.”

Sunyul was a bit shocked to see Dakyung nod as if it were obvious. If Dakyung’s birthday had been when Sunyul didn’t know him at all, he would have thought nothing of it, but he had no idea it had passed while they knew each other.

“Sorry, for not celebrating it with you.”

“Ehh? No, it’s fine. Really.”

“But…….”

“If it really bothers you, you can just celebrate it for me next year.”

Next year. To Sunyul, that felt impossibly far away. It hadn’t even been three months since he’d woken up; for next year to come, several times the amount of time he’d already lived through would have to pass. As Sunyul struggled to answer, Dakyung asked him.

“By the way, hyung, when is your birthday? Should we count it as October 7th?”

October 7th was the day Sunyul had been found in the dungeon.

“……I don’t think it’s that day.”

If he had to pick one, he thought maybe it was today, just like in his dream… but he kept his mouth shut since there was no basis for it.

“Then when should I celebrate it for you?”

“You don’t have to celebrate it.”

“Can’t do that. Pick any day you want next year. I’ll celebrate it for you on that day.”

“Okay.”

Dakyung beamed at Sunyul’s reluctant answer. He was a good kid, after all. Sunyul took the now-excited Dakyung’s hand, and they went to read comics.

Playing with Dakyung all day blew away his troublesome thoughts. Sunyul thought it was for the best and headed to the guild master’s office with a light step.

Muyoung, who had been looking at documents for a while, just lifted his head to greet Sunyul.

“I still have some work left, so you’ll have to wait a bit.”

“Okay. Can I wait here?”

“Of course.”

Sunyul waited in the guild master’s office, playing Mallang Farm on his smartphone or watching Muyoung from time to time. And it wasn’t until 7:30 that he left work with Muyoung.

But Muyoung’s car headed in the opposite direction from home. When Sunyul checked the navigation, an address he’d never seen before was entered.

“Aren’t we going home?”

“There’s somewhere we need to go.”

“Where?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

It was an answer that would have been very suspicious coming from anyone else, but from Muyoung, it didn’t raise any doubts. Since I had that dream again, are we going to see Haemin or Heena to investigate something related to it? he could only guess.

However, this was also different from the way to the Melior Guild. Puzzled, Sunyul looked outside.

The place they finally arrived at was a restaurant in the suburbs. The questions that had filled his mind while parking the car and heading inside slowly turned to surprise as they were led to their table.

Inside the empty restaurant, with no other people.

On the table where the two of them would sit, there was a large strawberry cake. It was decorated with candles in the shape of the three letters ‘HBD’.

“Happy birthday.”

Muyoung whispered softly to Sunyul, who was frozen in place. Sunyul was completely flustered by the unexpected words.

“Ah, what? Today, my birthday is…….”

“Let’s count it as today. You said it was today in your dream, too.”

Muyoung was firm. With an attitude so confident it could make a lie feel like the truth, Sunyul nodded in a daze. He was bewildered. Bewildered, but at the same time…….

He was happy.

Incredibly so.

So much so that even if today wasn’t his real birthday, he felt he could celebrate this day as his birthday for the rest of his life.

“……Lim Sunyul?”

A tear streamed across his cheek and dripped down. The sorrows inside his chest melted away like snow in spring.

I’m so happy, so why am I crying?

A large birthday cake topped with strawberries, candles placed for celebration even if they weren’t numbers, and Muyoung, who must have prepared it all…….

Everything struck Sunyul’s heart intensely, and he felt as if the confused and anxious feelings he’d had all day were being comforted.

The things that had been troubling Sunyul’s mind melted away smoothly at Muyoung’s sincere congratulations. On top of the faint traces that remained, warm and soft emotions began to sprout, one by one.

“Why are you crying.”

“Because I’m ha, happy…….”

“Don’t cry.”

Sunyul nodded, but the tears didn’t stop easily. Muyoung looked at Sunyul, seemingly at a loss, before pulling him into an embrace. Sunyul clung to Muyoung and sniffled.

After a long while, Sunyul stopped crying. Muyoung let out a laugh as he watched Sunyul slowly pull away.

“You’re like a faucet. Crying at the drop of a hat.”

“……If I were a faucet, I would have turned it off earlier.”

Sunyul retorted, sniffling. Because you can turn a faucet off whenever you want, but he couldn’t turn off his own tears that burst out unexpectedly. Muyoung, who snickered at Sunyul’s words, gestured towards the chair with his eyes.

“Sit down first.”

“But, are there no other people here at all?”

“There are staff. I just rented the place for the day, so there are no other customers.”

So there were people around, anyway. Sunyul, who had been about to ask if he could sit next to Muyoung, quietly went and sat across from him instead. He wasn’t a child, and eating while facing each other was normal. Of course, even if there were people, it seemed like Muyoung would grant Sunyul’s wish if he asked…….

While Sunyul was restraining himself, Muyoung picked up a box with a ribbon that was sitting on one side of the table. Then he handed the box to Sunyul, whose eyes had widened.

“It’s a gift.”

“……Is it for me?”

“Of course.”

Sunyul took the box with trembling hands. Then, with sparkling eyes, he examined the box from all angles. The box wasn’t that big, and it was light. Sunyul couldn’t hide his curiosity and asked.

“Can I open it?”

“Go ahead.”

Sunyul carefully untied the ribbon and unwrapped the paper so as not to damage it. Because he didn’t want to throw away a single thing carelessly.

Inside the box he opened, there was a pair of gloves knitted from yarn. Sunyul ran his hand over the incredibly soft-looking gloves. Then he carefully picked them up and tried them on.

“How are they?”

“Cute.”

Muyoung looked quite satisfied.

“Did you pick them out, Guild Master?”

“Yeah. I didn’t have time… so I didn’t see them in person, but picked them from a catalog.”

“Thank you.”

He had been about to say that if Sunyul was disappointed, he would pick something out in person next time. But Sunyul, as if this were more than enough, smiled with his cheeks flushed red.

“You seem to get cold easily.”

“I don’t get that cold……”

It was just that Muyoung, being an S-class Awakened, was unusually resistant to the cold. Sunyul was about average. Though, since he always rode in Muyoung’s car, he rarely had a reason to feel cold.

“When we slept together before, you clung to me a lot, saying you were cold.”

“……Ah.”

Sunyul’s face burned hot.

“That time, we were surrounded by a snowfield……. If you think about it, it was basically like the North Pole.”

“Hmm.”

“I don’t get cold that easily.”

“Then should I buy you something else.”

“No?”

Sunyul recoiled in surprise, like someone worried Muyoung would take the gift away. At his wary expression, Muyoung unknowingly let out a chuckle.

“I’m not taking it away.”

“……”

“Why would I take it away? I can just buy something else and give you more.”

“……Guild Master.”

Sunyul hesitated for a moment. After much deliberation on whether to speak or not, Sunyul opened his mouth grimly.

“You seem to, spend too much money, recklessly.”

Sunyul swallowed the question he originally wanted to ask and threw out a different one.

‘Have you done something like this with anyone else?’

That’s what he originally wanted to ask, but of course he would have. There was no way he’d never had a birthday party before.

The reason this absurd thought came to him… was because this moment was so precious and special to Sunyul. That’s why he wished that Muyoung had only ever done something like this with him. Because if it were a unique experience, it would be that much more memorable.

But to Muyoung, this birthday party was probably just one of many. He was grateful enough that Muyoung had celebrated it for him; to hope that this moment would be special for Muyoung too was a luxury.

As his thoughts reached that point, Sunyul’s expression momentarily darkened.

Muyoung noticed that Sunyul had changed the subject, but he didn’t press him. If Sunyul had stopped himself from saying something bad, there was no need to poke at it.

“E-Even if you have a lot, you should save some. What if you run out of money…….”

“I earn more than I spend, so it just piles up.”

Muyoung played along with Sunyul, who was adding his words hesitantly.

“……Well, that’s a relief, then.”

“And what’s wrong with spending a lot? I can’t give you a heartfelt gift like you did, so I have to at least spend money.”

“Heartfelt?”

“You knitted me a scarf.”

A faint blush appeared on Sunyul’s face. That scarf, the one Jaehoon had mocked for being shoddy, Muyoung still wore around without a second thought.

He needed to finish the new scarf quickly so he could tell him to throw that one away. But because he was concentrating so hard on knitting the new scarf, he wasn’t making much progress.

“I like it.”

“I’m glad to hear that, but… I’m going to knit you a better one.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Sunyul nodded at Muyoung’s words.

Right, what does it matter if Muyoung doesn’t remember this moment as special? Sunyul can just remember it enough for both of them.

‘I will probably remember this for the rest of my life.’

The many moments he shared with Muyoung would remain in his memory for a long, long time. For as long as Sunyul’s memory allowed, they would continue.

“Take off the gloves for now. We have to eat.”

“Ah, okay!”

Sunyul gently placed the gloves back in the box, as if worried they would get damaged.

“Should we light the candles on the birthday cake first?”

“Are you going to sing me the happy birthday song, Guild Master?”

Sunyul’s eyes sparkled brightly. Muyoung was inwardly flustered, but since Sunyul was looking forward to it so much, he ended up nodding.

“Alright.”

Muyoung sang the happy birthday song, which he had barely ever sung even as a child, and Sunyul enjoyed it with an incredibly happy expression before blowing out the candles.