Chapter 86

Everyone was left speechless at Blaine’s tearful outburst. No one could react, just staring blankly, and only then did they notice how unusually quiet the shop had become.

Turning around, Blaine saw that all the players inside were staring at them. Just as a flicker of unease passed, Blaine, perhaps oblivious to the atmosphere due to crying, spoke again.

“Everything I give you, you pay for… but why do you take everything from Aslan for free?”

It wasn’t just a ridiculous complaint—he added a bombshell on top.

“I want to be your ‘ho-gu’ too.”¹

At that moment, everyone realized the shop’s attention had shifted entirely to Blaine. Theo hurriedly covered the back of Blaine’s head with one hand and clamped his mouth shut with the other.

“You can’t say things like that…!”

Startled, Blaine’s eyes went wide. Realizing that Theo was stopping him from speaking, he looked even more forlorn.

He mumbled protestingly at Theo. Theo couldn’t understand the words through the muffled voice and tearful whimpers, but the feel of Blaine’s lips against his palm caught his attention more than the words themselves.

After a long moment of muffled murmuring, Blaine, frustrated, yanked Theo’s hand away, only for Theo to clamp his mouth shut again.

Pull. Clamp. Pull. Clamp. How many times had they gone through this? Finally, exasperated, Theo forced Blaine to his feet.

“Let’s go outside and talk.”

But Blaine stubbornly resisted.

“No! We’ll talk right here!”

“Do you even realize how many people are watching? What are you trying to get yourself into?”

They bickered about leaving, but eventually Theo led him out of the shop.

Outside, Theo stopped at a safe distance, worried someone might follow. He looked down at the pouting, sniffling Blaine and let out a heavy sigh.

“You can’t just say you want to be someone’s ho-gu so casually. It doesn’t sound good, and people will misunderstand if they hear it.”

“Even if they misunderstand, it doesn’t matter…”

“No…”

Theo held back the words that threatened to escape—‘I’d be misunderstood too…’—and spoke firmly.

“If you step up so casually, volunteering to act like a fool, people around you will start seeing you as ridiculous…”

“It’s not casual…”

“Huh?”

“I’m serious. I want to be your ho-gu. I want you to take me on as one…”

It was dizzying. Was he even thinking straight? Staring blankly at Blaine, Theo frowned, touched his temple, and shook his head.

“…I’m not planning on making you my ho-gu.”

Blaine’s face fell, as if he had expected a different answer. He cried out, voice choked with sorrow.

“But Aslan is your ho-gu!”

“……”

The phrasing felt off.

“You make Aslan your ho-gu…! So why not me…! I’m luckier… Even if I didn’t manage to help this time, still… still I’m luckier than him…”

Listening to his rambling, Theo felt his mind go blank. The word ‘ho-gu’ swirled through his head like a persistent echo. Did it have some hidden meaning he didn’t know? Or had he misunderstood its dictionary definition all along?

Silently, Theo opened his display and searched for ‘ho-gu’.

Ho-gu (虎口)

[Noun]

1. Literally, the jaws of a tiger—used to describe an extremely dangerous or precarious situation.
2. Figuratively, a naive or gullible person who’s easy to take advantage of.
3. [Sports] In Go (the board game), a spot where a few stones are surrounded with only one opening remaining.

It is commonly used to refer metaphorically to someone naive and easy to exploit.

“Naive! Easy to take advantage of! Ho-gu! Such a bad word!”

After even checking the dictionary definition, Theo couldn’t hold back and shouted.

“Why do you want to be a ho-gu so badly when being one isn’t even a good thing?!”

“Because I want to give all the good things to you!”

Theo felt his patience snap.

“Who do you think you are, giving me good things? Who asked you to do that?! Keep the good stuff for yourself!”

Before he realized it, Theo had even jabbed a finger while spewing words that bordered on harsh. It wasn’t until Blaine’s face fell in shock that Theo realized his mistake. Big tears began to form in Blaine’s wide, staring eyes, threatening to spill at any moment, and Theo flailed his hands, flustered.

“A-ah, no, Blaine, that’s not what I meant…”

But instead of crying, Blaine, filled with indignation, shouted back.

“If Father or the noonas give me something, you take it for free, right?!”

Theo froze, both hands stopping mid-gesture at the unexpected reply. He muttered in disbelief.

“No… they don’t give it to me for free…”

“……”

“……”

The tension immediately calmed, and the previous anger felt almost embarrassing. Theo swallowed a sigh and asked calmly.

“What was it that you wanted to give me so badly?”

“Everything… just everything. The Kallia Tree, my strength stats, Hexi’s reward…”

Blaine’s voice trailed off, and his head sank lower. The lower Blaine’s head went, the more Theo’s fingers tingled for no reason. Clenching and unclenching his fists several times, Theo finally spoke gently, as if coaxing him.

“Then, next time something comes up that you want to give me, I’ll just take it. Is that okay?”

Whether it was Theo’s kind tone or the promise to accept things for free, Blaine’s head shot up like a spring. His wide, excited eyes asked if Theo was serious. When Theo nodded with a resigned sigh, Blaine smiled in pure joy.

With ears tilted back and mouth wide open in delight, Blaine looked absolutely adorable—so much so that he didn’t even notice that Theo was smiling back.

After the two of them hurriedly left, some people’s eyes followed them, but no one left the shop. They seemed to be keeping an eye on the four who remained.

The awkward and tense atmosphere lingered briefly, but soon the four—Father, Noquia, Holanghee, and Aslan—started chatting and laughing over trivial things. Others in the shop followed suit, and the inside became noisy again.

“Did you see that? This time, the 4th generation group filed a complaint claiming the bioethics law is unfair.”

Amid the commotion, the four froze and glanced around. They spotted four players sitting at a nearby table, apparently the ones talking. They strained to hear the conversation through the noise.

“Oh, did you see? They’re asking to remove the data deletion deadline.”

“What the hell? If the 4th generation removes the data deletion deadline, that means they’re aiming for immortality, right?”

“That’s why the 1st and 2nd generations went crazy.”

“Just the 1st and 2nd? What about the 3rd generation?”

“They’ll become 4th generation soon too. Think they’ll have complaints? No way. They’ll probably side with the 4th generation.”

“The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, huh. It’s not just that the wealthy will get richer—if they get to live forever too… well, that says it all.”

The four who had been quietly eavesdropping simultaneously opened their displays. They started looking up the discussion online, and it didn’t take long to find the information.

Some of the 4th generation players had raised objections to the bioethics law, while some of the 3rd generation supported it, earning the ire of the 1st and 2nd generations. There were also reports of 4th generation players who died due to data deletion after raising objections to the law.

Everyone subtly glanced at Father. She was frowning deeply, staring at the display.

“Do you know anything about this?”

In the awkward silence, Holanghee spoke up. Father glanced at Holanghee briefly, then returned her gaze to the display, shaking her head. Since it didn’t seem like a widely known issue, it was probably not a common problem.

Aslan closed his display and stood up.

“For now, we should let Theo and Blaine know. Weird people might try to start trouble.”

Everyone nodded and followed Aslan out of their seats, leaving the shop. Outside, the four scanned the area for Theo and Blaine, but there was no sign of them anywhere.

Worried they might have already gotten caught up in some trouble, they used whispers and guild chat to ask about their location. But contrary to their concern, Theo and Blaine seemed to be heading toward a dungeon.

Relieved, Father, Holanghee, and Noquia told them the news they had learned in the shop and warned them to stay careful, ending the conversation. Since the chat had been through guild messages, they also relayed it to Aslan, who muttered in disbelief.

“What? Did you guys just leave me behind?”

The three looked at him with a mix of pity and amusement, patting his shoulder as if to console him, and spent the day keeping him company in Theo’s absence.

Late that evening, Theo and Blaine returned to Ratteon and, as expected, headed to Theo’s house. As Theo climbed onto his platform, he waved at Blaine who had come to see him off. Normally, Blaine would have given a bright, quick wave back and turned away, but today he just stood there, stiff, not moving.

“Blaine?”

Curious, Theo called out. Blaine’s eyes, which had seemed distant, suddenly lit up with focus, locking entirely on Theo.

“Hyung.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to start waiting here again from today.”