He was useful!

...he should not be this happy about being useful. No growing close, he said. His fucking backlash.

They have a second dungeon scheduled that same day, with only about enough time for them to recover from their respective backlashes, but it's only slightly more difficult than the first one, and could also have been solo'd by either of them easily.

And as Tae-gun suspected, it was his backlash trying to make him cosy up to Kim Hye-jin; by the time they're at the new dungeon he is no longer feeling the urge to spend more time with her.

He knows this will change by the time they're done, but still, the distance is as much for his safety as hers.

Okay, so while it doesn't get into the realm of an actually challenging dungeon, it does just barely limp into the level of difficulty that she's enjoying herself. Or possibly it's that she's better at working with him; instead of leaving deliberate and methodical holes for him to cover for, she's leaving things better suited to his skillset for him. It no longer feels like it is the Hye-jin show as she drags along and babies the S-rank to give him practice at actually having a partner! Instead they're... fumbling a bit more actively together to figure out what is best done by which person! Progress!

And also: she's definitely having fun. She's practically skipping by the time they're done, lingering chill in her fingers or no.

Tae-gun, on the other hand, gets progressively more taciturn and upset as they go through the dungeon to its core. The way he walks back towards the dungeon entrance after they're done could well be described as "stalking", that's how irritated he looks.

Why is his backlash like this. He did not want to mow down a horde of mid-tier monsters while sporting an erection that he has to constantly conceal. He did not want to feel like if she sees it she'll... she'll...

It's a good thing his slacks are exactly the right colour and cut to make that easier for him; after all, this is a known problem he faces, and it would not do for him to walk out of a dungeon portal in his full-mast glory for all media outlets in Korea to see.

But he is of course bright and cheerful once they actually step out.

She feels kind of bad about enjoying herself when he's... clearly having a bad time. She wants to offer to hold his hand again, but, well. She thinks that would just upset him more.

Anyway yes they are now outside and accordingly have on their outside smiles. Hi, media and onlookers, she definitely doesn't want to crawl in a hole and die upon seeing all of you! That's a true fact that you can tell from this smile, which is one hundred percent real and not at all the kind of thing she has had way too much practice at making!

Aaaaaand: teleport, yes? No walking through the crowd?

Well it looks like there's media outlets wanting interviews, actually!

Unfortunately for them, Lee Tae-gun does not give unscheduled interviews, so after saying a couple of platitudes they can teleport. The guild will deal with the media for them.

(He wonders when they'll be sent to deal with a dungeon that requires rescuing people. That is definitely going to be a harder test of their coordination; they're both high caliber artillery but rescues are harder.)

(Yeah. That'll be... Yeah. But they probably won't have to deal with it in their first week of partnership. Especially as neither of them are the most suited for it, powers wise, and there are usually going to be better options available.)

It's the same silo as before; she gets a cup of hot chocolate going and retrieves her blanket, already cuddling up with it without any prompting. Something actively warm is better than a blanket that's based on magnifying her own body heat, but this still isn't particularly bad backlash. A blanket and warm drinks are good enough for now, especially with her absurdly compatible partner right over there.

Tae-gun on the other hand is definitely suffering remarkably less than he ordinarily would, and even that wouldn't have been a lot of suffering, all told. Easy dungeons.

And yet he's still having. Thoughts.

"Kim Hye-jin, may I—excuse myself?" he asks, tightly, having barely stopped himself from saying something he'd regret after he started the sentence.

Blink blink. But she thought they were getting along fine...? Apparently being a bit to happy while he was suffering was a bit too much. Well.

"Yes, of course? Uh. I'll stay here for the next while if you need extra guidance. ... Sorry if I... I like doing dungeons, when they're not rescues and the right type. Should I tone it down in the future?"

"—huh? No, this has—nothing to do with—you didn't do anything wrong. It's—something else."

"Oh. Okay. Then, um. Good luck with it? Let me know if you need help?"

He DOES NOT need ANY help, especially from KIM HYE-JIN.

"I will," he says, which is true because he DOESN'T so he will not let her know that he does. That's logic.

Actually logic is going down the drain right now, so, "I will—see you later."

Vworp.

....

Well. Guess she's dealing with her backlash with just warm drinks and a blanket.

He's not as desperately horny as he was when he first met her, he knows to expect it and he took the meds, but he still needs to take care of business if he wants to be able to think at all.

Unfortunately for him, there is one person who can get access to his house without needing to ask permission, and that person shows up there less than a minute after Tae-gun himself does.

"—wow, that was quick, I thought I'd be able to catch you before you had your dick in your hands."

He doesn't shriek, because he has great reflexes, and he doesn't skewer Woo-young, because he has great reflexes, but both of those are near-things and the fact that he's exposed like this is the worst.

(Well, but is it—)

(YES)

"I'm not in the mood, deal with it yourself."

"Min Woo-young."

"It's nothing I haven't seen before, sunbae."

He thinks he might spontaneously combust.

"It's your house, I'm sure you have rooms you can lock yourself in to take care of that while I wait."