Chapter 96

“Good morning.”

Daize approached them with a bright wave. Every time he took a step, his blonde hair shimmered softly in the sunlight. Theo and Blaine stared blankly at his hair for a moment before their eyes naturally drifted to something behind his shoulder. They both had the same thought.

‘That house looked really small.’

As if noticing their gaze, Daize turned around to glance at his house, then stepped aside with a proud expression to introduce it.

“Ah, that’s my place. It’s a bit cramped, but I’m planning to use it as a sort of second house. You should come over and hang out sometime.”

Daize grinned, his eyes fixed pointedly on Theo’s house. His intentions were transparent: I’ll invite you, so invite me back.

Unlike Daize, who was waiting for a firm commitment, Theo gave no real answer. He had no intention of giving one, either. He didn’t want to invite Daize to his home, nor did he want to visit Daize’s. Honestly, just having Blaine in his house was already more than enough to handle.

“Maybe later,” Theo muttered vaguely.

Since they were now guild members, he couldn’t just ignore him, so he settled for a non-committal response. Daize’s eyebrows slumped into a disappointed slant at the half-hearted reply, and he quickly scooted over to Blaine’s side.

“Then how about you, Blaine?”

“Me?”

“Coming over to visit.”

“I’d rather not, either…”

“Ah, you guys are being really mean…”

Daize pouted, his lips sticking out a mile. He continued to grumble incessantly at Blaine’s side. An unexpected uninvited guest had joined them, but Theo and Blaine didn’t pay him much mind as they headed toward the village entrance. All the while, Daize kept muttering under his breath, staring intently at the back of Theo’s head.

Just as they reached the village entrance and headed toward the warp point, a voice called out from behind. Turning around at the familiar sound, they saw Noquia and Holanghee.

Holanghee hesitated for a moment upon seeing Daize’s hair, but she soon smiled and greeted Theo and Blaine. Noquia walked up to Daize. She had heard that a new recruit had joined, but this was her first time seeing him in person. By the time she had returned from Rakvana, Daize had already left for Ratteon.

“The rookie who arrived yesterday?”

“Ah, I’m Daize.”

“I’m Noquia.”

The two exchanged standard greetings. Their first impressions of each other weren’t half bad. While the two were busy sizing each other up, Theo—having finished his greetings with Holanghee—shouted toward Noquia.

“Hey, we’re going to grab breakfast. You coming?”

At Theo’s question, Noquia looked away from Daize without a hint of lingering interest and walked over to the trio.

“Breakfast? Where? Sanaret?”

“No, Kish.”

“Kish? That’s quite a trip.”

“We have the warp.”

“Ah. Count me in.”

As the four of them moved toward the warp point in a group, Daize hurriedly scrambled to join them, making it a party of five. Thus, they headed to Kish for breakfast.

Upon arriving in Kish, they entered a shop and took a seat by a window that offered a panoramic view of the hidden landscape. The wide-open scenery was refreshing to the eyes.

By the time they finished ordering and laid out their food, a single table was nowhere near enough. Since there were five of them, they dragged another table over and pushed them together to finally get enough space.

“But why Kish Village all of a sudden?” Noquia asked, taking a large spoonful of her cream soup.

Usually, they settled for breakfast in Sanaret Village, so it seemed she was curious as to why they had suddenly suggested Kish.

“Blaine likes it. He’s been singing about having breakfast in Kish since last night.”

When Theo mentioned that Blaine liked this place, Daize’s eyes sparkled.

“Is there a specific food you like here?”

“Huh? No… It’s just that the village is pretty.”

At Blaine’s words, everyone’s gaze shifted out the window. One by one, they all nodded in silent agreement. It certainly was beautiful.

“By the way, I heard you joined our guild because of Blaine?” Noquia asked.

Daize, who was about to put a piece of bread in his mouth, glanced at Blaine and suddenly made a show of fake-crying.

“Yes. I want to become close friends so badly, but it makes me sad because he seems so shy around strangers.”

Noquia chuckled at Daize’s exaggerated acting, then wagged her index finger back and forth with a playful, look of disdain.

“He’s not being shy. He just only likes Theo.”

“Oh? Is that how it is?”

Daize feigned great shock, then cautiously asked while looking between Theo and Blaine.

“By any chance, are you two… dating?”

At his question, everyone’s eyes—including Blaine’s—landed on Theo. Theo accepted the weight of their stares without much emotion and gave a flat denial.

“No.”

“Ah…”

Daize let out a sigh that was a mix of exhaustion and relief, while Holanghee and Noquia lost interest, finding the answer boring. However, Blaine’s gaze remained fixed on Theo.

Just as Blaine, who had been staring blankly at Theo as if lost in thought, finally looked away, Holanghee spoke up.

“But why is your hair color different from yesterday?”

At the sudden question, Daize blinked and asked, “Huh?” while Noquia tilted her head, murmuring, “It’s different?” Theo and Blaine were also curious about this, so they watched Daize in silence.

Daize laughed awkwardly as if embarrassed by the focused attention, scratching his head before opening his mouth.

“Well… honestly, I thought Theo’s hair color was so beautiful. So I tried to change mine to match, but they say there’s no such thing as the same color under the sun… I guess that’s true. Even though they’re both gold, they look so different.”

Everyone compared the two men’s hair.

Theo’s hair was a bright, soft honey blonde that looked almost transparent as light filtered through it. While Daize’s was also honey blonde, unlike Theo’s, it looked opaque and felt much darker and heavier.

Perhaps feeling embarrassed by the way everyone was comparing them, Daize’s face flushed slightly. He then looked at Theo and asked imploringly.

“If it’s okay with you, could you give me the color code?”

The tone was polite, but it was a brazen request. Holanghee and Blaine knitted their brows, while Noquia watched with an intrigued expression. Theo, the person in question, simply shook his head with an indifferent face.

“Quia was the one who picked the color, so I don’t know the exact code myself.”

“…What?”

Looking at Theo with a dazed expression, Daize slowly turned his head toward Noquia. Noquia was leaning her chin on her hand, looking at Daize with a mischievous smirk.

“Uh… excuse me, well…”

Looking back and forth between Theo and Noquia in a panic, Daize pointed at Theo and stammered out a question.

“Theo’s hair color… that, did you make it, Noquia?”

“Yes. When you make clothes, color coordination is vital. You have to be born with a certain sense for it, too.”

Noquia tilted her chin up boastfully. Her ego was practically soaring into the clouds. Blaine looked at Noquia with eyes full of respect, surprised by this new piece of information, while Theo focused on his meal as if he couldn’t care less. Holanghee just shook her head with a weary expression.

“Th-then, could you let me know Theo’s hair color too?!”

Daize asked in a voice full of excitement, his eyes sparkling. However, Noquia made a face like she’d just chewed on a bitter persimmon, her boastful attitude vanishing instantly.

“You know how there’s such a thing as personal color? That specific shade was custom-mixed to match Theo’s personal color, so it wouldn’t suit you at all.”

“Huh?”

“If you want, I can create a color that matches your personal color, but…”

Noquia trailed off, curling her thumb and index finger into a circle. In other words: pay up. Daize stared blankly at her hand gesture, his face falling with disappointment.

“But I like that color the most…”

Noquia waved her hand dismissively.

“I made that color specifically for Theo, so I have no intention of sharing it with anyone else.”

“Ah…”

“What was your original color anyway?”

“Pardon? Oh… my hair? It was iridescent.”

“Iridescent? You mean like a sunset glow?”

“Yes.”

“I think that would suit you better.”

“Oh… really?”

“Yeah, it’s better than those golden tones for you.”

“Ah… okay.”

His response was half-hearted. It seemed he had no intention of changing his color back.

A few more days passed. The game was still under a state of high alert. Thanks to the fields being locked down, there were no incidents caused by the terrorists, but a strange atmosphere was beginning to drift within the guild.

As the days went by, Daize’s appearance began to change. Day by day, his hair color grew increasingly similar to Theo’s, and even his character customization subtly started mimicking Theo’s features.

Blaine felt like his heart was withering away because of Daize, who knocked on Theo’s door every single evening, pestering them to hang out. Theo didn’t seem to pay it much mind, but there was no way it wasn’t annoying. Blaine found himself walking on eggshells around Theo more and more, his heart thumping with anxiety whenever the time for Daize’s visit approached.

He had tried asking Daize not to come because it was a nuisance to Theo, and he had even accepted Daize’s invitations as a last resort—biting the bullet—but Daize only became more persistent.

Initially, Theo thought the two were such polar opposites that they wouldn’t get along. However, thinking that a pushy type like Daize might actually be what Blaine needed, he had essentially left Blaine to deal with Daize’s demands on his own. He remained unaware that Blaine was interpreting this silence in an entirely different way.

Today, as expected, the sound of knocking echoed. It was Daize. Theo looked toward the door and sighed despite himself. Blaine, who had been sitting on pins and needles, stood up with a dejected expression at the sound of that sigh.

“I’ll go home for today…”

Theo watched Blaine turn away with a face that looked ready to burst into tears at any moment, a thousand question marks popping up over his head. He hurriedly caught hold of Blaine as he headed for the door.

“What are you talking about?”

“If I’m here, Daize-nim will just keep bothering you… I’m becoming a burden to you, Hyung… so I should just go to my own house…”

Blaine paused for a moment. He bit his lip hard as if suppressing a sob. After a long silence, he spoke again, his voice sounding even more tearful.

“If I become close with Daize-nim, it’ll make things easier for you… I know that’s what you want, but… I’m struggling with it… I’m sorry. I’ll try harder…”

Theo felt as if he had been struck over the head. It was true he hoped the two would get along, but it wasn’t for his own convenience, and it certainly wasn’t meant to be a forced obligation.