interlude: our carefree lives | Glowfic Constellation

this_peculiar_power

Lee Tae-gun. Korea's first and, currently, only S-rank. There are A-rankers who could get the promotion to S-rank, if they wanted to, if they revealed enough of their powers—or, at least, there is one, in Kang Jaeha himself—but this flash in the pan boy was the first one to decide to just go for it and now he's probably learning about how much it sucks to be the center of attention.

Not that you'd know from just looking at him. He's always gorgeous, stepping out of dungeons, and that's genuinely impressive in itself, but it's even more impressive if Quasar is right that they might be compatible. This implies things about the shape of Lee Tae-gun's backlash, things that suggest he's quite good at self-control, and that he must be holding quite a lot in, to be able to look like that. So that piques Jaeha's curiosity, and he looks into the boy.

Lee Tae-gun is 21; manifested really late, about a year and a half ago; has had three partners so far, two A-ranks and one B-rank, each lasting a handful of months and ending in the normal way these things do, with two of them finding partners they're more compatible with and one stepping away from dungeoneering. As far as Jaeha can tell, there's nothing particularly out of the ordinary in the boy's history. He's really just very straightforwardly boring.

And, well, Jaeha is also between partners right now. The story with him is also usually the same: he's never found anyone he had great compatibility with, and they'd all eventually leave, even if they never found someone else. Better alone than with Kang Jaeha. But he doesn't take it personally. He knows they probably want more out of a partnership than he can give. This boy will be no different, they'll spend a while together and help each other survive and eventually the boy will move on and Jaeha won't take it personally either.

So Kang Jaeha is in a meeting room, reading some files and waiting for Lee Tae-gun to arrive so they can figure out whether they'll do business together or not.

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this_peculiar_power

Yeah. This is good, this, this is what he needed. Life feels progressively less hopeless, he clearly was extremely backlashed and he's getting back into himself again.

neither_rest_nor_peace

But once it seems like Jaeha is sufficiently recovered, Tae-gun does have to ask.

"Are you sure this'll be... okay? Nightmare will be around for several weeks, if you're this affected every time..."

this_peculiar_power

"I'm not sure of anything, Tae-gun-ah. I—you must've guessed what the problem was."

neither_rest_nor_peace

"You've never gone into it while you had something you cared about."

this_peculiar_power

"Yeah. So I don't really know if it'll affect me too much for me to keep going. I really don't.

"What I can say is that... there'll be some getting used to it, probably? And last night, I had already done dungeons earlier in the day, and I was very tired, which impairs my judgment and emotional resilience even if I'm fully guided." Or so he imagines; it does everyone, after all, and he has no reason to believe he'd be an exception. "This start will be... rougher, probably. But I want to try at least for a bit."

neither_rest_nor_peace

Tae-gun nods. Their comfort is measured in lives, and to a large extent confluences are when you buckle up and sit on your discomfort and upset for the sake of others. This work isn't one you do without sacrifice, not any more than being a paramedic or a firefighter. You do it because someone needs to, because if you don't then people will die.

"Okay. But—talk to me. Okay? And come home immediately, and wait for me if I'm not back yet, and—let me be there for you. Let me be your boyfriend."

this_peculiar_power

"Yes, Tae-gun-ah. I will."

freefall

🪁freefall: I am actually deceased
🪁freefall: I have died and I now speak to you from beyond the grave
🪁freefall: just like your ancestors do

first_and_only_law

🍀LeeJuheon: I don't think my ancestors have ever spoken to me from beyond the grave.

freefall

🪁freefall: really?
🪁freefall: damn, must feel like crap to be ignored by your own ancestors

first_and_only_law

🍀LeeJuheon: I've never felt the lack!

neither_rest_nor_peace

That group chat only has Tae-gun and his two hyungs, and it took Tae-gun threatening to block Si-yeon to get him to back down from renaming the chat to "Tae-gun and his exes" when Tae-gun and Jaeha started dating. Jaeha... does feel kind of jealous, that much Tae-gun knows, so it would be unnecessarily mean to him to do that even as a joke.

LeeTae-gun: What happened?

freefall

🪁freefall: this last fucking dungeon is what happened
🪁freefall: five hours!!! chun-hee and i were in there for five! hours!!!!!
🪁freefall: we had to call for backup!

first_and_only_law

🍀LeeJuheon: You spent five hours in a dungeon and you're chatting to us rather than snuggling your partner?
🍀LeeJuheon: Can't have been that bad

freefall

🪁freefall: we left the dungeon two and a half hours ago and i spent most of them balls deep in her

neither_rest_nor_peace

LeeTae-gun: TMI, hyung.

freefall

🪁freefall: if this clown wants to make suggestive remarks about how much i guide my partner i'ma make sure he stands corrected

first_and_only_law

🍀LeeJuheon: It was a joke! Just a joke!

freefall

🪁freefall: ugh, yteah, i know
🪁freefall: sorry
🪁freefall: I'm just really fucking tired and cranky rn

neither_rest_nor_peace

LeeTae-gun: So maybe go sleep?

freefall