One Day, a Dark Shadow Fell on My Closet

05

“To think the day would come when I would see a gate.”

Yeon Ji-ho, who had been staring into the wardrobe, muttered with a rather serious expression. The gate shining brightly from within did not seem like something one could carelessly touch.

I don’t know much, but it was clear that this was the gate that Set Gorgon had arrived through. After pondering for a moment, Yeon Ji-ho turned to Set beside him and said,

“You could go back like this, you know?”

“……No, this is a one-way gate. It’s possible to come from that side to this side, but the opposite is not.”

Set said, looking at the formulas engraved on the gate with a rather cautious expression. A one-way gate. Since all the gates in ‘The Star of Hadad’ were two-way, this was the first time Yeon Ji-ho had heard of such a thing.

As Set inspected the gate and turned around, his expression was particularly stiff. Noticing this, Yeon Ji-ho, who was remarkably perceptive in a bad way, gently poked him in the side and asked,

“What’s wrong?”

“……You are……”

You are?

The man hesitated for a long time before finishing that sentence. As Yeon Ji-ho patiently waited, he finally opened his mouth.

“If a way to return comes up, I will leave immediately. So don’t worry.”

It was a resolute statement that could make the listener feel a bit hurt. Of course, it was natural since he wasn’t from this place.

Yeon Ji-ho said to him with an awkward expression,

“I won’t say anything, so you can take your time.”

“……Being here doesn’t really help. Isn’t it a hassle for you?”

Seeing him continue to say such things, it seemed he really wanted to go home soon. Yeon Ji-ho decided in his heart to help him return as soon as a way presented itself.

“How could it not help? This place is so busy.”

“Is that so? Now that you mention it, it seems there’s no one else here besides you. It looks quite spacious, but do you not have any other staff?”

It seemed that Set thought of Yeon Ji-ho as a noble or a wealthy person of equivalent status. Yeon Ji-ho didn’t bother to correct that notion. After all, he was living quite well.

“I run a pension.”

“A pension?”

“Um… It’s like an inn.”

“So you’re in the lodging business.”

The house they were standing in served as both a reception and living space, and outside, several caravans and glamping tents were set up. It wasn’t managed well enough to receive guests immediately, though.

“I do run it, but I haven’t promoted it, so I don’t really have any guests.”

“Why is that?”

“Just… it’s more of a business I inherited rather than something I do to make a living.”

Running the pension was originally something his parents did. After they passed away, he had been unable to properly sort it out and had been continuing it for five years now.

Not wanting to delve into that gloomy story, Yeon Ji-ho quickly changed the subject.

“It would be more comfortable for you to sleep in an empty room, right? You could sleep outside somewhere else, but I haven’t prepared for that.”

“It doesn’t matter where.”

“Then I’ll lend you the room I used to use.”

Exiting the main room, Yeon Ji-ho opened the door to his old room, which was not far away. Inside, it was decorated in yellow and green, giving it a simple and warm feeling.

“Is the bed a bit small for you, Set?”

The double bed he had used was still in good condition since he had maintained it whenever he had the time. It just seemed relatively narrow for a large man.

“I don’t mind sleeping on the floor. I’ve slept in worse places on the battlefield.”

Of course, it was much better than the field beds used in war. After some thought, Yeon Ji-ho decided to let him sleep here for now, seeing Set’s indifferent face.

“Then sleep well. If you need anything, just come to that room.”

“Okay.”

Click.

Soon, Yeon Ji-ho opened the door and stepped outside. Set, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, soon touched the bed with a hesitant gesture.

It was a bed made of metal, not wood. Moreover, the blankets and pillows were incredibly soft. It was likely a bed made by an extraordinary craftsman.

Even while providing such a high-quality sleeping arrangement, Yeon Ji-ho showed no signs of feeling it was a waste. He might be a significant wealthy person in this world.

“Ha…”

The more he thought about it, the deeper Set sighed. He tried not to show it, but in fact, he had been overwhelmed with confusion and tension all day.

The owner of this place, a man named ‘Yeon Ji-ho,’ was so soft and kind that he had no idea how to interact with him. It was obviously impossible to treat him like a subordinate, and it didn’t suit him to serve him as if he were a father or mother.

If only he had fallen into Hadad instead, things might have gone more smoothly.

Hadad was that kind of person. A commoner who grew up in the fields and could blend in anywhere with ease. Yet, he could shine and make himself stand out wherever he went.

In contrast, he…

“……I should turn off the light.”

Set, who had carefully observed how the light turned on when Yeon Ji-ho entered the room, stood up and approached the wall. He pressed something that looked like a button, and instantly the room was plunged into darkness.

Quietly burrowing into the blankets, the bedding was very crinkly and soft. It was comparable to that of a duke’s castle.

Yet, it felt uncomfortable.

Set Gorgon laughed at himself. Born a commoner but raised as a noble, he found himself unable to blend in anywhere, and his temperament was fundamentally flawed for being loved.

Look at him now.

He had just thought that the bed prepared with care by Yeon Ji-ho was uncomfortable. His body, which had spent most of its life on field beds, in underground prisons, or in storage rooms on the floor of a duke’s castle, found such precious treatment suffocatingly constricting.

Tomorrow, he would have to follow Yeon Ji-ho around. He would have to prove his worth. To survive even in this place, he had to do that.

***

Returning to the main room, Yeon Ji-ho let out a low sigh at the sight of his messy room.

The creaky wardrobe seemed like something he would have to fix tomorrow, and the bed where Set had briefly laid was covered in dust and ash. It would likely take until dawn to clean it all up and get to bed.

Still, Yeon Ji-ho silently began tidying up. Having helped his parents with their lodging business since middle school, his cleaning skills were quite adept.

He picked up the soiled sheets and blankets in one go and set them aside for a moment, then swept the floor with a broom instead of using a vacuum cleaner. He didn’t want to wake Set by running the vacuum while he was likely sleeping.

“Alright, just need to take this to the laundry room, and I’m done.”

Time passed, and he was nearing the end of his tidying up. Yeon Ji-ho, lifting the bed sheets, blankets, and pillow covers that needed washing tomorrow, left the room.

Click.

With all the lights off except for the main room, it was pitch dark outside. Naturally, it was quiet as well. However, the moment Yeon Ji-ho stepped outside, he noticed something strange and frowned.

“Where are you going?”

It was Set. The man standing awkwardly in the middle of the living room flinched at Yeon Ji-ho’s call and looked up.

“……Well…”

“Did you need something?”

Due to the massive pile of bedding he was holding, Set had to peek his head out to the side to be seen. Noticing that Set seemed hesitant to say something, Yeon Ji-ho paused for a moment in thought. Then,

“Ah!”

“……”

“I’ll show you where the bathroom is.”

At those words, Set instantly shut his eyes tightly. Realizing that his assumption was correct, Yeon Ji-ho smiled and quickly shoved the pile of bedding into the laundry room before coming back out.

“There are several bathrooms, so you can use the closest one here. This is a toilet, but…”

“Could you step out for a moment?”

“Ah. Ah! Sure!”

After receiving a brief explanation, Set hurriedly shooed Yeon Ji-ho away. As the bathroom door closed and Yeon Ji-ho was left alone in the darkness, he scratched the back of his head and looked at the closed door.

“Hmm. I have more to tell than I thought.”

Instead of returning to the main room, Yeon Ji-ho decided to wait a moment for Set to come out. Before long, the man emerged from the bathroom.

However, unlike when he entered, Set came out without his shirt. Yeon Ji-ho looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“What happened to your clothes?”

“They got wet.”

“What on earth…?”

Thinking of the bidet attached to his toilet, Yeon Ji-ho turned pale. Set said nothing about it.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to sleep without my shirt.”

“Uh, no, that’s…”

“Since we’re both men, it shouldn’t matter.”

Yeon Ji-ho suddenly glanced at Set’s robust muscles and his beautifully shaped, inverted triangle physique. He unconsciously swallowed hard.

It had been so long since he heard that it shouldn’t matter since they were both men; it felt quite awkward. Back in school, he had always hidden in a bathroom stall to change clothes because he was an omega.

Then he wondered if he had ever revealed to Set that he was an omega. Hesitating, Yeon Ji-ho opened his mouth.

“Um, well, I’m an omega, so… it would be better if you could wear clothes as much as possible…”

“Omega?”

The man’s expression was strange. At that moment, Yeon Ji-ho’s heart sank. It was due to an unpleasant memory surfacing.

However, the man only had a very subtle expression and asked this question.

“What is an omega?”