'So uncomfortable...'
It was the first thought that came to my hazy mind.
I couldn't move my body freely, as if I was tied down by something. As well as this stark temperature difference between my left and right sides, it felt strange.
'It's hot... No, is it cool?'
I tossed and turned my head, the only part I could move freely, and groaned involuntarily.
It was uncomfortably hot, no, cool… no… I don't know. At that moment, a ticklish sensation spread across my face. Was it a bug? I tried to duck my head to avoid it, but it stubbornly followed, and I found myself frowning.
Having been sleeping so soundly, this was just irritating me now. I wanted to sleep a little longer... But my mind, unable to bear the discomfort, grew more alert against my will.
"Pfft…"
The sound of someone laughing reached my ears. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, I slowly opened my eyes. The morning sunlight streaming through the window, along with the bare color of flesh, filled my vision.
"…?"
"Good morning."
A soft voice greeted me with a good morning as I froze, staring at the chest of another person as soon as my eyes opened.
Cheon Sa-yeon, who had been lying beside me, resting his chin on his hand, pressed his finger against my cheek. Goosebumps ran down my body.
"You crazy…!"
Unable to bear the deep chill surging within me, I threw my fist.
Cheon Sa-yeon, who had been hit squarely in the face, tumbled off the bed. Fortunately, his lower body, exposed from outside the blankets, was still wearing his pants.
"What…"
Ha Tae-heon, who had been sleeping soundly on my right side, arm wrapped around my waist, opened his eyes at the scream. Like Cheon Sa-yeon, he wasn't wearing a shirt either.
"Ouch… Isn't that a bit harsh for someone you just spent the night so peacefully with?"
"Shut up!"
I shuddered and roughly pushed Ha Tae-heon's arm away, signaling him to let go. Ha Tae-heon's skin felt warm against my palm. The source of the heat I'd felt on my right side was Ha Tae-heon.
Panting, I jumped out of bed in a hurry and asked Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon, who were wearing only pants, with a stern voice.
"I lent you guys clothes yesterday! So why are you both naked!?"
"They were too small."
"It was so small that I couldn't sleep."
Only then did I notice the two T-shirts lying on the floor, as if just carelessly thrown away, at the foot of the bed. It was obvious that they'd taken them off and tossed them over the bed as soon as I fell asleep.
They'd kept whining and insisting on sleeping over, so I found the biggest piece of clothing I could find and lent some to them, but what the hell is this? I was so shocked that I couldn't help but laugh.
Peeek! Peeek!
Hearing my cries, Fox flew through the door and landed beside me. Fox, who had always slept beside me no matter what, couldn't withstand the SS-level aura emanating from Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon. It was banished to the living room sofa and spent the night there.
The two thugs who had stolen the little fox's place to sleep paid no heed to the fox's pitiful cries.
"If you're awake, wash up and have breakfast."
Cheon Sa-yeon stretched out his long arms, as if trying to show off, then rose from the bed. With every movement, the muscles of his well-toned upper body twitched. Ha Tae-heon who was standing next to him was no different and watching them only made me more irritated.
'I should have kicked them out, no matter what…'
A belated feeling of regret washed over me now. My peaceful morning was completely ruined.
But how could I, a mere A-class, kick out those two stubborn SS-ranks? I felt wronged.
It was fortunate that I woke up before Kim Woojin came to my room. The thought of Kim Woojin seeing this shitty situation... oh, it's truly horrific. Who was supposed to clean up after this?
Kim Woo-jin usually came over a little after 9:00 AM to eat breakfast, so I had about two hours left. Within those two hours, I had to erase as much evidence as I could that Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon had slept over.
Holding the whimpering fox in my arms, I sighed and spoke.
"Have someone go buy you guys some clothes."
***
Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon washed up and changed into the clothes the assistant had brought them. Seeing them dressed in decent clothes brought some peace of mind at least.
I tried to dissuade Cheon Sa-yeon from contacting Woo Seo-hyuk, so I sent another secretary to fetch the clothes. I felt truly sorry for that secretary, but I absolutely did not want the quick-witted Woo Seo-hyuk to know about this situation.
"I'm exhausted…"
After I finished tidying up the bedroom, I felt totally drained. I slumped on the sofa, muttering to myself. Cheon Sa-yeon, sitting across from me, clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
"Aren't you way too weak? You've only been up for two hours, and you're already exhausted."
"Please be quiet…"
He was truly a heartless bastard. I wanted to cuss him out, but I didn't have the strength, so I just ignored him.
It was then, as I sat on the sofa, absentmindedly reflecting on my past life, that the front door lock clicked, and Kim Woo-jin arrived as usual.
"Han Yi-gyeol, you're awake..."
Kim Woo-jin, who had entered the living room without a second thought, stopped dead in his tracks upon encountering Cheon Sa-yeon. His flustered gaze darted to Ha Tae-heon, standing next to Cheon Sa-yeon, before finally settling on me.
"Hello, Kim Woojin. Come in."
"Uh, yeah."
Kim Woojin, watching Cheon Sa-yeon's grinning expression, crept cautiously closer to me. He looked like a cat encountering a stranger in its own territory, which made me feel a little sorry for him.
"Are you surprised? I asked them to come here early because I wanted to talk about what happened yesterday."
"Early?"
As I quickly explained before Cheon Sa-yeon or Ha Tae-heon could say something stupid, Kim Woo-jin's copper-coloured eyes, which had been blank, now held suspicion.
"They weren't sleeping here or anything…right? Are you saying they both came here this early in the morning?"
"…Of course. Why would you think that?"
His question was sharper than I'd anticipated. I swallowed dryly and nodded without thinking.
Kim Woo-jin, who heard my answer, quickly cleared his doubts and his eyes softened again.
"I see. Got it. You haven't eaten yet, have you?"
"Not yet."
I'm sorry, Kim Woojin. But there are times in this world when it's better not to know.
"Now that Kim Woojin is here, we can have breakfast. We'll be attending a meeting with Deputy Master Alice this afternoon, so please take note."
As Cheon Sa-yeon was looking at me and Kim Woo-jin with a concerned expression, he spoke. Instinctively, the image of Alice from yesterday flashed through my mind.
Alice, who soared through the sky with her wings and slaughtered monsters with a shotgun. She had waited at the Requiem Guild for Cheon Sa-yeon to return, but was ultimately unable to return to the hotel and ended up borrowing a guest room at the guild.
Alice probably has a lot of questions about the sudden monster appearance incident yesterday as well, so she'll likely agree to the meeting schedule unless there was a compelling reason not to. My deal with Alice was cut off midway, so we needed to meet again.
While I was organizing the questions I wanted to ask Alice, I took the opportunity to speak to Cheon Sa-yeon.
"Speaking of Deputy Master Alice, please don't interfere with the business between me and her. I'm not even a member of Requiem. Why do you keep meddling?"
"Meddling? That's too much… I was just concerned, Han Yi-gyeol. I wouldn't want you to get involved in any unnecessary complications..."
"Stop talking nonsense."
Let's calmly talk about this. Cheon Sa-yeon quickly covered his mouth with his hand and lowered his eyebrows. His expression looked so sorrowful, as if he hadn't done anything wrong and I was scolding him for nothing.
Anyway, serious conversations are impossible with him. If I let this slide as a joke, he'll just do the same thing again next time. So, crossing my arms, I told him firmly.
"If you keep acting like this, I'll leave Requiem and go to Roheon."
"That's fine. Come anytime. I'll give you a much better room than this. Or you can just move into my house and live there."
Ha Tae-heon, who had been leisurely watching from behind, suddenly intervened as soon as the word Roheon had left my mouth. Cheon Sa-yeon's eyebrows rose in displeasure at the part about moving into his house.
"Deputy Master Ha Tae-heon is so clueless in situations like this. This is clearly just a loving argument between me and Han Yi-gyeol, and yet you're butting in like this."
"It seems like it's only a one-sided affection, though."
"Just by listening to Han Yi-gyeol's voice, I can easily tell that he's not sincere. Deputy-Master Ha Tae-heon really doesn't know our Han Yi-gyeol well at all."
Here we go again. It wasn't just me who was fed up. Kim Woojin, who had been sitting next to me, listening to Cheon Sayeon and Ha Taeheon bickering, shook his head a few times before leaving for the kitchen. The fox, seeming bored as well, unexpectedly followed Kim Woojin out of the room too.
Now that I was left between these two people who were snarling at each other so earnestly, I was struggling to figure out how to resolve the situation. Then, as if by some miracle, someone knocked on the front door.
"Coming."
What perfect timing! This visitor clearly has good sense. Without hesitation, I ran to the front door and opened it.
"Good morning, Han Yi-gyeol."
The first person to appear as soon as I opened the door was, surprisingly, Woo Seo-hyuk. I greeted him warmly, though it was a face I'd been seeing unusually often lately.
"Welcome."
"Did you sleep well?"
"Of course. What brings you here so early in the morning?"
Knowing that Woo Seo-hyuk was someone who wouldn't come to me unless he had a reason, I asked him casually, expecting him to tell me. Yet, for some reason, Woo Seo-hyuk hesitated slightly and averted his gaze.
"Woo Seo-hyuk ssi?"
"I'm sorry. I was worried about you after what happened yesterday… so I came to see you. There's no other reason."
"Ah...."
He just came to check on me because he was worried? I was a little touched by Woo Seo-hyuk's words, saying he'd come all the way here just to see how I was doing, even though he had no official business to attend to.
If only Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon weren't in the room, I would have invited him to stay for breakfast. I smiled apologetically and replied.
"I'm fine. Woo Seo-hyuk ssi, you must have been very busy. Aren't you tired?"
"I'm alright. Well, now that I've seen your face, I'll be going now."
"Oh, yes."
Before I could even tell him to go, Woo Seo-hyuk stepped back. It was at that moment that I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking everything had passed without any problems.
"I was wondering who was there giving such a long greeting, turns out it was you, Secretary Woo Seo-hyuk."
A hand suddenly shot out from behind and wrapped itself around my shoulder. Woo Seo-hyuk, who was about to bow obediently, stopped dead in his tracks.
Cheon Sa-yeon, with a fake smile on his face, feigning ignorance, placed his hand on my shocked shoulder and greeted Woo Seo-hyuk.
"Good morning, Secretary Woo Seo-hyuk."
"...Yes."
"It seems that now you can find your way to the 23rd floor room just fine without my say."
"...."
"Since you're here, why not stay for breakfast? Come on in."
As if neither the frozen Woo Seo-hyuk nor I existed, Cheon Sa-yeon casually left after offering an invitation to stay for breakfast before turning away.
"...."
"...."
Woo Seo-hyuk's dark eyes turned to me. Instantly feeling guilty, I quickly blurted out an excuse.
"Oh, he came early this morning since I had something to discuss with him about yesterday…"
"...."
Despite my excuse, Woo Seo-hyuk's gaze remained unchanged. He didn't believe me at all. I cried internally.
'It's all over...'