"Oh, could it be that we're roommates?"
Well, what do you know? It must be fate!
A voice full of enthusiasm announced its undeniable presence. Unlike Sihyun, who instantly felt awful, Haeun entered the room with a radiant smile, making Sihyun clench his keys tightly, wishing he could go back to the lobby and request a room change.
Out of 94 people, there were only four that he needed to avoid, yet somehow, out of those four, two ended up here with him.
Since the female lead couldn't share a room with the kings, it felt like he, as her childhood friend, was destined to become entangled with the Four Heavenly Kings in her stead. Otherwise, there was no way to explain how he ended up with this unlikely duo as his roommates.
As he lamented his fate, the sound of dragging luggage was heard. If this was Haeun's room, then naturally, Haeun's partner would also be staying here. Confirming that fact, he saw a boy with purple eyes dragging a suitcase into the room.
"...."
The violet irises glanced at him before shifting to the side. Haru awkwardly climbed down the bed and was met with Hamin scowling at him, making him shrink back. The one who took offense was Sihyun instead.
How dare he come in here and bully other people's kids?
While Sihyun bit back some harsh words, Hamin went and placed his luggage in the corner. Apart from the gleeful Haeun, everyone else fell into an awkward silence.
Sihyun, feeling the tense atmosphere, took his stress out on his innocent keys, scratching them with his fingernails.
"Ugh, I'm so tired. Which bed should I use?"
A lively voice shattered the silence.
Unable to spit on a smiling face [1], Hamin, who had been making a face as if had smelled something rotten, schooled his expression and tossed his phone from his pocket onto the lower bed. Thud. The square phone bounced a few times on the mattress, clearly marking his turf.
Male protagonists seemed to be quite territorial these days.
In any case, with Hamin rejecting normalcy, Sihyun, once again feeling the disparity between them, dragged Haru back to the bed.
Among the people quietly sitting, Haeun, who seemed to be the only one working diligently, opened his suitcase and started organizing his belongings. Selecting which two of the eight wardrobes he wanted, Haeun efficiently tidied up. Unexpectedly, he seemed to be the most hard-working out of the four. Observing Haeun, Sihyun joined in and started organizing his belongings as well.
One becomes two, and two becomes three. In the situation where even Haru had come down to help organize, Hamin, who was left alone, looked at his phone, tousled his hair, and got up from his seat. Three became four.
"I never thought we'd end up in the same room! Seems like there's something connecting us Kangs after all, right?"
"...No."
It seemed the inability to spit on a smiling face wasn't unique to just Hamin. Since he was making eye contact and smiling, despite the absurdity of the statement, Sihyun, feeling compelled to respond, denied it a beat too late.
Though he denied it, Haeun laughed. To an outsider, he made it look as if I had vehemently agreed with him.
That high-energy vibe Haeun had seemed unrelenting throughout the day.
As a character in a webnovel, he was cute.
It was like seeing an adorable younger brother, making '>ㅁ<' expressions. However, in reality, instead of a clueless younger brother, it was more like an ignorant, petulant five-year-old. And perhaps, a quite sly one at that.
Simply labeling him as clueless didn't quite fit as Haeun didn't seem clueless in my eyes. Having lived for 23 years, my intuition spoke, and instead of continuing to organize, I found myself observing Haeun. Sensing Sihyun's gaze, Haeun, quite astutely, burst into a wide smile. Sihyun's upper body instinctively retreated.
"What class are you?"
"...?"
"The class you inscribed this time. Hamin was curious and made such a fuss."
"When did I do that?"
"I'm very skilled at reading Min's expressions!"
"I think that skill is defective."
Hamin rebutted abruptly at Haewoon's random remark while quietly organizing, Sihyun wasn't sure if they were fighting or not. Haeun asked again, evidently he had quite a persistent personality.
"You don't really need to know."
"If we're roommates, of course we should know!"
"I never saw a rule like that."
"I decided it was! Should I ask Hamin to add it to the rules?"
Huffing a sigh at the conversation veering off track, Sihyun looked at Hamin. 'Who are you to add rules?' His gaze seemed to say. But instead of a laugh, Hamin, who I thought would smirk, adjusted his expression and avoided Sihyun's gaze. It was unexpected.
Seeing Hamin's face frowning as bad as when he saw Haru earlier, piqued Sihyun's curiosity. Haeun, who was looking back and forth between them, tilted his head, amused.
"That wasn't the reaction I expected... Could it be that you didn't know that Hamin's the son of the S Corporation's CEO?"
"S Corporation?"
"Stop talking nonsense, Kang Haeun."
A cold voice cut through the ensuing conversation. As Hamin's eyes turned ominously towards Haeun, he immediately recoiled behind Sihyun with a gulp, hiding his body.
Sihyun had no intention to hide him, so when he stepped back, Haeun just covered his face with his hands.
"It was just a joke, don't get mad!"
Seeing Haeun's brazen expression, Hamin touched his forehead. Sihyun, who found the gesture somewhat familiar, briefly glanced at him with a tinge of sympathy before turning to Haeun. He couldn't help but think that if Hamin possessed the ability to make such a scene, maybe he was the true protagonist.
It was a trivial but unexpectedly plausible thought. Sihyun observed Haeun closely as Hamin clicked his tongue and tousled his hair. Leaving his unorganized belongings, he walked out the door, shutting it with a bang.
Who just slams the door and leaves like that?
The noise was loud enough to echo through the entire floor, and Sihyun stared wide eyed at the door that Hamin stormed out of. Puzzled by his apparent anger, Sihyun furrowed his brow until Haeun nudged his arm.
"I had a feeling he'd get mad."
"If you expected it, why did you say it?"
Finding it absurd to irritate Hamin needlessly, Sihyun narrowed his eyes, intending to scold Haeun, but he just smiled sweetly at him. He truly was shameless.
"Because Hamin's cute when he's angry."
No, not at all.
What's cute about storming out, as if ready to break the door? Perplexed, Sihyun glanced at Haeun, wondering if the definition of 'cute' had changed unbeknownst to him. Haeun shrugged, adding a touch of innocence to his petite face.
"You still don't understand Hamin's charm, Sihyun."
I have no desire to.
"So, you really don't know about the S Corporation?"
That S Corporation talk again. Puzzled, Sihyun narrowed his gaze at the alphabet he vaguely remembered from the character descriptions. The information he had momentarily forgotten due to recent events started coming back to him.
'His parents are the heads of the S Corporation…'
It was a sentence he distinctly recalled from Hamin's character profile.
"...I've heard a little about it."
"Hmm, why do you look like you don't know anything at all though?"
That's spot on. Trying not to show it, he sent a querying glance, prompting Haeun to playfully tilt his head, resting his chin on the carrier.
"The S Corporation, basically they're the number one leading guild managing corporation in Korea. They also manufacture awakening-related products."
"Guild?"
Was he talking about something similar to those in games? As Sihyun struggled to wrap his head around these new words, Haeun looked at him with a pitying expression, his round eyes carrying a bit of sorrow.
"We learned about it in middle school. Seems like Sihyun isn't as bright as I thought..."
He couldn't tell if Haeun's concern was genuine or if he was teasing him. Sihyun, once a top student, felt unfairly judged.
Even if forgetting was a failure, he can't be blamed for something he never learned.
"If you don't want to explain, it's fine. Let's go, Haru hyung."
He pulled Haru, who had finished his packing, along and intended to go to bed, but his arm was grabbed by an unusually serious Haeun, who was pouting at him.
"I'll explain so hold on a second! You're being no fun."
"So?"
"… Don't you kind of get the vibe from the name? A guild is basically a place where awakened people can gather and organize systematically. "
So it is like in video games. Although on a slightly bigger scale.
"Hamin's brother Hahyuk hyung is an S Class who manages the guild 'Redem', which is funded by S Corporation. I thought that Hamin being the son of that CEO was common knowledge… You really didn't know?"
As Haeun fired off information, Sihyun recalled an article he'd seen recently about 'Hahyuk'. There had been a news piece related to him.
"I wasn't interested."
"Um…"
"…What?"
"…Was that it?"
Haeun tilted his head as he wondered if Sihyun had more to say. Should he have acted more surprised?
"That was it."
"Ehh? So bland!"
I'm not some soup or a side dish, still Haeun was giving me a review. Sihyun looked over at the door that Hamin left through.
Being the top guild in Korea was surprising, but considering that the webnovel has become mixed up with fantasy, it made sense.
"How can you not be surprised? You already knew about the S Corporation, right? You were just trying to tease me, right?"
As Haeun kept squabbling, looking wronged, Sihyun blinked.
What was there to be surprised about? He's the male lead of this story.
But to be honest, Sihyun felt relieved that Hamin wasn't the world's number one for now.
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[1] unable to spit on a smiling face is a common Korean proverb that basically means that it's hard to be angry at someone who is happy.