Chapter 113

The two of them, having spat out the same answer simultaneously as if they had conspired, looked at each other and nodded. There was no sign of embarrassment or surprise. They respected each other’s opinions as if the answer were a given—though Blaine, the actual person who would be wearing the clothes, was not included in that respect.

As if to comfort Blaine, who was dejected after his request for black was rejected, Theo patted his shoulder twice and spoke while smoothing out the fabric of the outfit.

“Bright colors suit you better.”

Along with the tender remark, Theo’s golden hair brushed against Blaine’s cheek. Blaine found himself staring blankly at Theo’s honey-blonde hair. Glistening, bright blonde hair that flowed like honey. For a moment, a stray thought crossed his mind: ‘Then, does Theo hyung suit me, too?’

“…….”

The thought didn’t last long. Whether he was embarrassed by his own reflection or not, Blaine’s face flushed crimson in an instant, and he hung his head. What on earth was he thinking? He wanted to fan his face because of the heat rushing to his skin, but he was too mortified to move a single finger.

Noticing something strange about Blaine, who had stiffened like a wooden statue and was acting twitchy, Theo looked up. Discovering Blaine’s face turned an explosive shade of red, Theo reached out in a hurry, startled.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”

As Theo’s hand approached, Blaine’s face grew even hotter. He turned his head as if to dodge the touch and covered his face with his arm; at the same time, the slit sleeve slid down smoothly.

The sight was enough to make one forget their worries and burst into admiration, but Theo, holding onto his reason with pure willpower, forcibly pulled Blaine’s arm down.

“What is it? Are you sure you aren’t sick?”

“No, no, I’m not. Nothing hurts.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really…”

Blaine smiled awkwardly and subtly avoided eye contact, pulling his hand away to fan himself. However, the heat blooming in his cheeks showed no signs of subsiding.

Whether the two of them were being nauseatingly romantic or just plain weird, Noquia—who had been flipping through color samples alone—brought over two swatches and held them against the fitting piece one by one.

“I can’t give you pure black, but I’m going to make the coat color a bit dark.”

Both of them looked at Noquia at once. In her hands were samples of deep navy and dark gray.

“You’re making the coat dark?”

“Yeah.”

“Why though?”

Noquia, who had been staring only at the garment and the swatches, shifted her gaze to Theo.

“I have a plan of my own.”

“?”

Noquia gave a somewhat devious smile. It made Theo feel a little uneasy. Wondering if she was planning some prank with the clothes again, he inspected Blaine’s outfit here and there, but there was no “prank material” or any area that seemed overly revealing.

He couldn’t tell if he should be relieved or stay on guard.

Since Blaine kept insisting on black and Theo’s aesthetic sense was of no help, Noquia kicked the two of them out of the workshop. In their place, she summoned Father and Holanghee.

Before they knew it, the two were pushed out the door, staring blankly at Father and Holanghee as they entered the workshop to replace them. Honestly, those two would likely be more helpful to Noquia than they were.

Still, since it was Blaine’s outfit being made, it felt a little disappointing to be pushed to the sidelines. Theo clicked his tongue softly and, as if resigned, looked at Blaine.

“I’m going to go gather materials for the Schooner. What are you going to do?”

He hadn’t been able to hunt for Schooner materials lately because his feet were tied by the Reinforcement State. Though he pretended otherwise, Theo was quite itching for action.

“I’ll go too.”

Blaine nodded without a moment’s hesitation. Theo, as if he had expected the answer, walked ahead and asked once more.

“Want to run a few dungeons and go sea fishing, too?”

“I do!”

Blaine answered energetically and scurried to catch up to Theo’s side. The two moved in sync as they headed toward the exit. They passed through the central hall and were about to head down the stairs when Daize, who was just entering, spotted them. His eyes widened, and he approached with a welcoming greeting.

“Hello! Where are you two off to?”

“Hunting.”

“Ah, really? I don’t have anything to do either. Mind if I join you?”

At the innocent question, both Theo and Blaine made a face as if to say, “Ugh.” The rejection written so clearly across their faces—as if they didn’t even need words to say no—struck Daize with the force of a physical blow. He let his shoulders slump with a wounded expression, but the act didn’t work on them at all.

The two walked even faster, passing right by the dejected Daize. Daize, who had been pretending to be pitiful, looked momentarily flustered by their unexpected heartlessness as they hurried past. However, he quickly recovered and scurried after them, sticking to Theo’s side and pestering him again.

“Come on, can’t I really come along?”

“Nope. No way.”

“Why? Isn’t three better than two? We’ll clear it way faster.”

“The two of us are plenty fast enough.”

“Aww, still!”

Daize clung to the side of the dismissive Theo, hanging on relentlessly. Just as Theo was starting to get genuinely annoyed by the persistence, he felt a hand gently wrap around his shoulder and pull him back. Startled, he looked up.

He saw Blaine’s face, his brow heavily furrowed. Theo stared blankly at Blaine, whose face was filled with blatant dissatisfaction, before shifting his gaze to his own shoulder. He saw Blaine’s hand gripping it firmly.

“Hyung said he doesn’t want you to come.”

Blaine spoke as he pulled Theo even closer into his embrace. Hearing the wary edge in his voice, Theo suddenly realized: that scowl wasn’t just dissatisfaction—it was guardedness.

Blaine had been feeling prickly lately because of Daize. For some reason, it seemed like Daize was showing interest in Theo. Before, he used to cling to Blaine and annoy him, but now his gaze and words were strangely shifting past Blaine toward Theo. He hated it, found it unpleasant, and it made him anxious.

Daize instinctively flinched at Blaine’s fierce glare. With the ears atop his head, Blaine looked exactly like a wolf guarding its master.

While Daize was frozen, the two of them took the opportunity to walk away quickly. Even as they blended into the crowd, Blaine looked back several times to see if Daize was following, but Daize’s eyes were fixed on Theo’s departing back rather than on Blaine’s gaze.

‘Why is he standing out to me more? I feel like no matter who Hyung is with, I’d only see him…’

He was starting to understand what Blaine’s constantly hovering words meant, bit by bit.

Perhaps luck had been accumulating during the Reinforcement State, because the Schooner materials dropped on their very first dungeon run. The two stared at the reward list with bewildered faces before let out a cheer, hugging each other in joy. They packed the rewards and exited the dungeon.

Moving close to Theo’s side as he organized the loot, Blaine peered into his display and asked.

“What’s left now?”

Theo stopped his hands and brought up the list of Schooner materials on his display. Pointing to them one by one, he said.

“Water-scale Lumber, Water-mist Artisan’s Sea Fog, and Moonlight Cotton.”

“Whoa, only three left?”

“Yeah.”

Theo answered briefly as if it were no big deal, but unlike his casual attitude, his voice was brimming with pride.

Having obtained the materials so easily, the two headed straight for Ratteon. Blaine suggested going for the other materials since they had plenty of time, but Theo wanted to go sea fishing more.

And so, the two of them spent the entire day floating on the sea, just the two of them.

The next day, when they arrived at the guild house, the three usual fixtures of the place were nowhere to be seen. The workshop was empty, too. A confused Theo asked Mastar, but Mastar only shook his head, not knowing either.

Wondering where the three of them had gone together so early in the morning, Theo immediately called out the guild category.

“Where are you guys?”

[Father: Huh? We’re at the Edom Guild.]

“Edom Guild? All of a sudden?”

[Holanghee: You know how we agreed to help FireflyLamp with her customization last time?]

[Holanghee: It’s not something we can really put off, so we’re trying to get it done quickly today.]

“Ah… did Quia go too?”

[Noquia: Yup.]

“Isn’t it true that you aren’t exactly helpful even if you do go?”

[Noquia: You’re taking me for a pushover, aren’t you?]

[Holanghee: Sounds like an accurate assessment to me.]

[Noquia: …]

“Did you finish Blaine’s clothes?”

[Noquia: Not yet, I’ll do it when I get back.]

[Father: I’m the one who dragged her along saying we should make an outfit for FireflyLamp too, so don’t be too hard on her.]

It seemed Father felt quite guilty about using FireflyLamp’s customization to catch Jurz. Because of that, she seemed to be planning to gift her a new outfit by Noquia in addition to the customization help.

Since they hadn’t ditched their work just to play around, Theo couldn’t really complain. Assuming it wouldn’t take too long, he decided to wait for the three of them at the guild house.

However, his expectation that it wouldn’t take long was completely off the mark. When he asked when they were coming back around the end of the morning, they said they’d be back soon. When he asked if they were still at Edom around the end of the afternoon, they apologized and said it was taking longer than expected. By the time evening came and the sun was setting, there was no reply at all.

Theo, who had wasted the entire day waiting for them, was fuming, but the three of them remained silent throughout the night. They finally returned to the guild house late the next morning.

Returning with the smell of alcohol on their breath and bloodshot eyes, the three of them looked incredibly satisfied, as if they had spent a night of wild revelry.