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Han Yoojin practically ran into the building with the dungeon gate, drinking in the sight of his kids. They were alive. They were here and whole. The dungeon's rank suddenly changed and they took many days longer than they should have, but they were alive.
It had already killed him to send them into the highly dangerous dungeon, especially when he couldn't accompany them himself– the most he could do was call in a favour, and send in the one person that Yoojin had always relied on, somehow or the other. Sung Hyunjae was an ass, a sadist, and prone to doing the craziest things when he was bored, but he'd also never failed to deliver on his words.
He approached Yoohyun and Yerim first, pulling them into a hug and giving them generous hair ruffles while Peace turned into his juvenile form and rubbed at his legs. Yoojin smiled and congratulated and promised their favourites for dinner, but try as he might, he couldn't hide the concern in his eyes. It was bad. They were still on their feet, but he could tell it was bad. But they still seemed to have enough energy to argue with each other though– although far more subdued than Yoojin was used to, so he let it go. For now. Yoohyun would brief him later anyway, and if he tried to hide anything, Yoojin would get it out of the Seseong guild leader.
Right now, though, all Yoojin wanted to see was them safe at home, fed and tucked into a comfortable bed. He idly smoothed down the hair he had just ruffled, eyes roving over their forms once again to check for any injuries. Aigoo. Our kids have worked hard.
"I have worked hard too."
"Right, right, associate-ssi was maybe useful for once." Yoojin said reflexively, too caught up in the adrenaline crash on seeing the kids safe and alive to really pay attention to anything else. He looked up at the man, surprised despite himself when he took in the sight of the Seseong guild leader. The man looked as annoyingly elegant as always in his suit– you'd think he came from a different dungeon, when looking at him next to the kids.
It was his hair that made him pause though, because instead of the effortlessly swept back look it was always in, the locks flopped on his forehead instead. It would be the most insignificant of changes to someone who didn't know, but considering Yoojin has seen this man survive through hell and high water looking perfectly immaculate, that was indication more than anything that something in the dungeon had gone horribly wrong.
Hyunjae seemed to know what he was thinking– because of course he did. He tapped his own cheek, an infuriating smile on his face. "Shouldn't partner-ssi provide a reward? I believe good returns are the key to a long lasting partnership."
Yoojin let the kids go and instinctively walked towards the blonde, unhearing of the protests from the others. How bad was it? What could have happened that even Sung Hyunjae looked ruffled?
"Seseong guild leader-nim must be having memory losses from his rising age, because didn't we already write up a contract before the raid?"
"But that was before the circumstances changed. Han Yoojin-gun should provide adequate compensation to his beloved business partner." Saying so, Hyunjae lightly dragged his finger from his cheek to his mouth, tapping his lips instead. Aish, how does this man manage to make every action look graceful? This seductive devil– there must be a lot of people falling at his feet.
"Beloved my ass," Yoojin grumbled under his breath, Hyunjae's eyes curving up even more when he caught it with his S rank hearing. "Hasn't Hyunjae-ssi heard of the saying that greed is the root of sorrow?"
"Is it really greed if I'm just taking what I'm owed?"
Before Yoojin had the time to react to the sudden rattle of the chains, they had wrapped around him and pulled him closer to the guild leader, who smiled down benevolently.
"Hyung!" "Ahjussi!" "Kkyung!"
A blaze of fire rushed towards them, and even with Hyunjae's chains buffeting then back, Yoojin could feel the heat across his face. Ah, Yoohyun-ah, calm down, calm down. Even with Eunhye, your hyung is a F-ranker, you know? Although it didn't seem Eunhye was necessary, because Hyunjae had tugged him close enough to practically burrow him against his chest and wrap half of Sillekia's Wings around him. With Hyunjae's chains, coat, and his Eunhye, wasn't this almost an impenetrable L-rank triple layer shield?
Yoojin grit his teeth, giving Hyunjae the fakest of smiles that he could muster. "Does associate-ssi tie up all his partners like this?" He asked, stressing the word to remind Hyunjae that he was not an item anymore.
The older man's smile just widened, the chains not judging an inch. "It's special treatment for my favourite partner."
"Cursed is the one who's your favourite," Yoojin complained immediately, the hands tied behind his back furiously gesturing the kids to calm down.
"Then it's fortunate that Han Yoojin-gun has L-rank curse resistance," Hyunjae mused, his eyes still curved into those amused crescents. And really, this close, that hair was distracting Yoojin. Should he brush it bac– but no. He reminded himself that it was just the annoying ahjussi who would get god knows what idea from that, and not Yoohyun or Yerim.
And of course Hyunjae had noticed where Yoojin's gaze was, smile widening. Yoojin went red at having caught, straining against the chains even harder. "Would you release me already? My patience isn't L-rank, and even if associate-ssi tied me up I wouldn't k-kiss anyone."
"That's unfortunate," Hyunjae intoned drily, letting go of the chains. Yoojin took a step back immediately, wiping sweat off his chin. "I suppose I'll have to complain to the reporters outside that Director-nim scams his honest partners."
Yoojin couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter at that ludicrous idea, hating it when he saw the satisfied air around the older. Eugh. He hated to give him the satisfaction.
But really. The idea of Sung Hyunjae rattling to reporters…
He bit back another laugh.
"Wouldn't it appear like a greedy guild leader trying to pressurize a frail F-ranker? Ah, Seseong guild leader-nim is so opportunistic, trying to take advantage of a brother's love."
"Isn't it more like two business partners working out a fair share of profit?" Hyunjae corrected. "Of course, if Yoojin-gun wants to go back to being an item–"
"Where did I say that!?" Yoojin bristled.
"What's the issue? Yoojin-gun has already promised his body to me," Hyunjae said flippantly, a hand wrapping around Yoojin's back with the tip of his fingers landing exactly where he had reserved the spot for the mana stone. This bastard. What's the point of letting the chains go if you were going to grab me? I can't beat an S-rank's strength.
"What!? Ahjussi, that isn't true, right!?"
"Of course hyung would never do that," Yoohyun growled, matching up perfectly with Peace who looked equally murderous. "Seseong guild leader is speaking bullshit."
Well…if you really look at it though.
Yoohyun must have read something in his silence, because his face went through a complicated set of emotions.
"I see. Hyung must have been forced into something vile."
What? Yoohyun-ah! How did you come to that conclusion? It's natural to think that when this ahjussi is involved, but you're making it sound like…
"No I mean–"
Yoojin was interrupted by a trail of blazing flame coming towards them before he could explain. And no, Yerim-ah, why are you joining in? Didn't they just come from a S rank dungeon? Kids, just how many mana potions did you drink before exiting the dungeon. Peace-yah, not you too, heuk. And stop looking so bloodthirsty Hyunjae, it's scary even on an annoyingly handsome face like yours.
"Stop!" Yoojin yelled, and thankfully all the S-rankers paused in their tracks. "It's okay Yoohyun-ah, it's not what it sounds like." He then whirled around to glare at Hyunjae, who smiled innocently.
"And you! Don't say intentionally misleading stuff like that!"
Hyunjae tilted his head. "But it's true. Doesn't Yoojin-gun remember that day in my bedroom–"
"Ah! Stop stop! Stop spouting bullshit!"
Hyunjae pretended to wipe a tear. "My business partner is quite cruel. Even when we went through so much trouble because a marine creature appeared in a forest dungeon."
"He's lying, ahjussi! It was a normal forest dungeon!" Yerim shouted eagerly, contradicting the blonde man.
"The only abnormal fact was the dungeon rank changing. But we already expected that," Yoohyun added, reminding him of the plan that had made them enter the dungeon in the first place. Yoojin had suspected interruption from the filial piety addicts– and the dungeon had changed as they expected– but for jellyfish to show up themselves?
"Anyway, don't listen to him ahjussi! There was no trouble!" Yerim interrupted his train of thought, looking rather cute with her eyes shining expectantly for praise. But Yerim-ah, your run down appearance says otherwise. But still, you've worked hard.
Yoojin vocalized the last part out loud, making her light up. He hastily added compliments for Yoohyun and Peace too, before the two S rankers could get riled up.
His mind was elsewhere though, furiously analyzing Hyunjae's words. Jellyfish wouldn't show up themselves, would they? The filial piety addicts couldn't interfere directly into dungeons, so it was most likely some kind of monster. Like Diarma sent poison dragons, did Jellyfish send sea animals?
And the S-rank kids didn't detect them? This ahjussi, did he take care of the monster himself while the kids focused on the dungeon boss?
"It must have been troublesome," Yoojin muttered to himself.
"The only trouble was that it was boring," Hyunjae said gently.
"Ah! Seseong ahjussi didn't even help! What boring!"
"But we handled it hyung," Yoohyun added, looking like a cute child. Yes yes. You've all worked hard.
But if Hyunjae really took care of Jellyfish's interference without even the kids knowing– and Yoojin knew from looking at them that the boss fight must have been hard. If whatever new scheme Jellyfish cooked up had been allowed to join the fray, then the result might have been very, very different. If Hyunjae really went that far to keep his kids safe– knowing him, he definitely had ulterior motives of his own, but Yoojin didn't care– if he really did that.
Yoojin looked up and raised and eyebrow at Hyunjae, who waited patiently with amusement glittering in those golden eyes.
Well then.
Yoojin reached up and grabbed Hyunjae's collar, roughly pulling him down to plant a kiss right on the lips.
Hyunjae was all too willing (because there was no way Yoojin would have caught an S-rank by surprise and managed to drag him down), but Yoojin neatly stepped back when Hyunjae indicated that he was going in for a second, longer kiss.
It was precisely then that chaos broke out, and Yoojin found himself whisked away by Yoohyun to a safer distance while Yerim and Peace charged at a laughing Hyunjae.
Yoojin absently stared at Hyunjae's unexpectedly soft lips, before he snapped out of it and had a dawning sense of horror that staying any longer in this man's presence right now would be detrimental to his dignity at best and sanity at worst.
Thankfully, all he had to do was pretend to be feeling weak and tired from the constant chaos, and the kids instantly ran back to his side and clamored to go home. Hyunjae just chuckled and asked whether Yoojin would like to sleep in his bed again , almost setting off another round of fighting. Weren't they all supposed to be exhausted?
He hastily interjected before the infuriating man could escalate the situation further, complaining that dinner would get cold at this rate. They were easy enough to convince once Yoojin let it slip that he's the one who cooked it–along with a meal of a generous amount of magic stones for Peace–and the exhaustion must finally be catching up to them because even Hyunjae's fake crying of "not being invited by Yoojin-gun" was ignored.
Yoojin led his kids out, giving one last glare at Hyunjae. "I'll talk to you later– and not in your godforsaken bedroom, stop looking at me like that."
Hyunjae smiled back at him, rubbing a thumb over his lower lip and looking far, far too attractive. "It's a date , then."