Yoo Jonghyuk's side quest #8: Compliments are good for the health. [part 6]

Staying under the heavy rain without expecting a fever was something Kim Dokja subconsciously neglected simply because of the latter's name. Just because he shared the same name as the almighty protagonist who will pull through everything! Through sorrow and madness, he could do nothing but clench his fist and overcome all the odds against him. The man who seemed indestructible but at the same time very fragile. To the person who was selfish and arrogant with his self-centered ways of doing things. He seemed to be able to handle everything but the stress that kept weighing on his shoulders.

Just like a sunfish.

Kim Dokja let out a low chuckle while his gaze landed on the man who was peacefully resting in his bed. The teen tried to position himself in the most comfortable way possible on the small sofa beside the bed and then looked at the lit up screen of the phone in his hands.

The young man couldn't help but feel a little resentful inside. It was all his hyung's fault. If it wasn't because he suddenly staggered on his way towards the guest room, and if it wasn't because the nearest bed was in his room... And now, because of that, he was forced to stay on this small cramped sofa, even though this is 'technically' his room. But why didn't he went to the guest room then? Are you heartless?! How could he leave a sick person alone? Alright, maybe it was he didn't want to deal with another corpse inside his house again. One was already traumatic enough for him.

As the heavy rainfall finally subdued down, the pale moon hanged outside up above in the cloudless night sky, it was already very late and all the lampposts were turned off. Now in the dead of the night, the neighborhood was surrounded by a peaceful silence since dawn was still far away. The soft moonlight filtered through the small gap between the closed blinds while the youthful face of the teen began to form into a deep frown. His black pupils seemed to shine against the illumination brought by the phone that he was holding so tightly. No matter how much he squinted his eyes or how intense his gaze was, Kim Dokja just couldn't focus on the content of those black text tonight.

A question reverberated inside his mind.

Why was he unable to focus on the story?

Clicking on the side button of the device made the screen immediately blackout. Tilting his head sideways against the sofa, his thin lips opened slowly, allowing a long sigh to escape from his rosy mouth. He just couldn't focus tonight. What his mind all thought about was the hyung beside him... Was he finally going insane? His brain was relentlessly being mushed and squashed by all the unsettling emotions, making him really feel like going into another mental breakdown right now.

Calling this novel Kim Dokja's drug isn't an overstatement at all, the teen would definitely be suffering from withdrawal if he doesn't read at least every update tls123 post per day. However, today he didn't even read one chapter and that's pretty worrisome. It was like the only thing that could keep him in check wasn't working anymore.

Kim Dokja's blank gaze kept focusing on the bright moonlit streak on the floor beneath him. After an unknown lapse of time, he sluggishly turned his head over to face the body of the peacefully sleeping man. The distance between the sofa and the bed was very close and the teen began intently gazing at the sleeping beauty's handsome features. Neat eyebrows, flawless skin accompanied with dazzling looks carved in jade that could cause a ripple in anyone's heart. Truly an enemy for both men and women.

Shaking his head while another sigh escaped from his mouth again, the exhausted Kim Dokja tried to fall asleep by silently listening to the other's rhythmic breaths. His long eyelashes fluttered slightly before closing his heavy eyelids welcoming the darkness, but with no avail, he still couldn't rest. Inside his mind, many thoughts slowly resurfaced upon his half-focused consciousness.

Sometimes the things that one wishes to forget the most are the things that are most likely to haunt you. For Kim Dokja, the thing he wished to forget the most was his past and he partially managed to do it. The memory of that moment was very hazy, he could only remember his mother covered in blood as she hugged him in tears while constantly apologizing and saying it was all her fault. His life had been a tragedy, and yet it can be still considered a rather uneventful story. The death of his father, the betrayal of his mother and the belittling words directed at him. Kim Dokja still remembers clearly the tough days he had gone through in the past years. How could he forget?

The boy who tried to show an unfazed smile hiding his sorrow, but the stares of the people still pierced his skin like a thousand sharp needles. He should have been able to smile freely but instead, why it seemed more like he had grown afraid of the people lately? And without even realizing it, he had already become a captive prisoner trapped inside this ugly parade of misery. He had already fallen inside this awful thing called 'loneliness'. And everything happened because he decided to become one of those 'fools' who don't show their weakness...

Sometimes Kim Dokja couldn't do anything about those dark thoughts abruptly showing up inside his head. There will be a day when the last drop of his sanity will finally dry up. Maybe that will be the day when he will finally decide to end everything once for all.

However and fortunately, all those dark thoughts couldn't manage to manifest themselves in reality. Although lonely and drowning inside his own depression, his miserable existence was constantly being saved by tls123's wonderful novel. Kim Dokja could only find solace when he read the novel.

A world in which that novel doesn't exist will be a world where Kim Dokja wouldn't exist either.

A world without that amazing sunfish keeping him company would have no meaning.

Letting a dry laugh out of his mouth, Kim Dokja started to smile before falling, hopefully, in a dreamless sleep. "Yoo Jonghyuk... You stupid sunfish. Thank you for existing."

***

A complicated expression was now displayed on the regressor's face while his eyes gleamed with uncertainty. A strange feeling started plaguing his heart again as the image of a cheerful Kim Dokja smiling and an image of a dying Kim Dokja smiling back stood before each other haunted his mind. Because he couldn't comprehend this vision, he realized that Kim Dokja was the only one who tried to really understand him, even though he didn't talk much about himself.

"Just who are you..."

Pulling himself up as he leaned against the headboard, away from the soft blankets, Yoo Jonghyuk turned his head around and peered at the person rested beside him, trying to get another proper look at that soundlessly sleeping face. Kim Dokja curled himself up on the small sofa, this unintentional posture made him look like a little helpless animal. Kim Dokja slept while placing his head against the sofa. The young man's soft raven hair laid delicately on the headrest with few hanging bangs pleasantly adorning his white porcelain skin while his long butterfly-like lashes cast gentle shadows on his rosy cheeks.

The proud and arrogant Yoo Jonghyuk seemed intoxicated as he deeply stared at the young man in front of him. Abruptly shaking his head, the regressor's eyes started trembling as he tried to grasp his emotions. Taking a deep breath, the cold air filled his lungs and managed to temporarily subdue down his confusion. Within his raging thoughts and sinking heart, the final verdict had already been decided. It was all the system fault because he dared not to think otherwise.

So began a dreamless night for Kim Dokja and a sleepless night for Yoo Jonghyuk.

***

Daybreak came as the sun rose up high in the sky, the soft moonlight was replaced by the warm rays of sunlight while outside the early birds had already begun cheerfully chirping as they welcomed the new day. Today was the first day of the long-awaited weekend, but instead of resting, Kim Dokja was already starting doing some house chores. With a face that emanated a healthy glow even, the young teen felt strangely energized today and the reason was that he was soon going to pay his mother a visit. The relation between the two was still awkward as ever, but Kim Dokja believed that his mother definitely had some unspoken hardships that could explain what had she done.

Kim Dokja wanted to make his mother her favorite homemade food, but he was not a good cook so he had always woken up early to have more time to prepare the dishes. He wanted to do something more meaningful for her because, during his weekly visits, he had no other topics to talk about but the novel... What a depressing situation. Regardless, Kim Dokja really enjoyed telling the regressor's adventures to his mother because she seemed to really listen to him and that what matters in the end. With a wistful expression on his boyish face, the young teen clasped both his cheeks and then raised both arms towards the sky cheering for himself.

Meanwhile, Yoo Jonghyuk didn't manage to get even an ounce of sleep and woke up with some eyebags under his dead-fish eyes. The clashing sounds coming from form understairs startled him up, with his slightly hazy mind, he had thought he was still trapped inside one of those dangerous scenarios and was currently under attack. Swiftly making his way down the stairs without making any sound, the realization hit him when he saw the pandemonium inside the place that was once called 'kitchen'. And the culprit was the teen wearing a white apron that was faced with his back towards him.

「 What in the world... 」

The only sight of this poor kitchen made the regressor tremble in exasperation. How can someone even be so incompetent to be such a disaster? This man is not be allowed inside any kitchen! Yoo Jonghyuk might be 90% stoic and aloofness, but if there's something he can't stand, that thing is definitely a messy kitchen. It all began from an old trauma caused by his sister, a pan, some pancakes and an almost burnt down house. The only silver thought of those memories made the regressor shiver in horror.

"Kim Dokja!" The regressor rushed forward as he saw the teen slipping down the messy floor.

With a shriek of terror, Kim Dokja fell down with the bowl of whipped cream flying up towards the ceiling before crashing down upon the two figures. Shutting his eyes as he waited for the impact to come, but instead, he felt himself being engulfed in a warm embrace. With a 'thud' the plastic bowl hit the ground before rolling away, the teen opened his eyes slowly with caution and then found himself face to face with the handsome but grimacing face of the regressor that had white cream dripping from his head.

"H-Hyung?!"

Alarmed from the sight, Kim Dokja tried standing up, only to slip down again. Surprised by the sudden clumsiness of the stuttering teen covered in flour and whipped cream, the regressor was caught unprepared in face of the incoming crash. And then, inevitably, the tragedy repeated yet again.

With a hand around Kim Dokja's slender waist, he protected him from the fall but something unexpected happened. With that dirty face pressed against that handsome bewildered expression of the regressor, the soft sensation of those thin lips pressed against Yoo Jonghyuk's mouth was akin to two flower petals tickling his face. Kim Dokja's eyes bulged out as he looked at the petrified expression of the man who he had just taken advantage of.

Kim Dokja: "..." *internally screaming intensifies*

Yoo Jonghyuk: "..."

[Target favorability raised: -10 points.]

[Under too much stimulation target will start feeling wary.]

[Please behave.]

+

[Side quest #3 - Compliments are good for the health.]

Category: Side

Difficulty: ???

Clear conditions: 30/100

Side effect: Indirect inclination towards the character 'Kim Dokja'. *Warning: Random activation.

Time-limit: 5 days

Compensation: ???

Failure: ㅡ

*There are additional clear conditions.

*No constellation interference allowed.

+

Slowly standing up to get away from the shocked man, Kim Dokja did a ninety-degree bow before dashing away like a frightened bunny to hide and cry inside his own self-deprecating bubble. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!..."

Why does he always need to embarrass himself in front of his hyung??

The regressor did nothing to stop the bashful teen from escaping simply because he was too stunned himself to do anything at all! All he could feel is his heart being scratched by a wild kitten! One could even discern a hint of coyness inside those usually aloof eyes.

He raised one hand to cover his mouth and with a suspicious red tint spreading through his face, Yoo Jonghyuk subconsciously ran his tongue over his lips trying to savor the taste again, unsure if the sugary flavor was because of the sweet cream or Kim Dokja's honeyed lips...