"You should have inford about this, Yoon Seoyul."
He knew very well that lately he had been pushing almost everything onto Yoon Seoyul. With how drained he had been, even simple things sotis felt exhausting, and Seoyul had naturally taken over most of the responsibilities without complaint. But that didn’t an he wanted everything hidden from him. Especially sothing like this.
Yoon Seoyul had always been like that. Unless he was directly asked, he rarely spoke about anything troubleso. He carried things on his own shoulders as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Cheon Areum understood that habit better than anyone. After all... he wasn’t much different himself. If he kept everything to himself the sa way, how could he expect Yoon Seoyul to suddenly do the opposite?
"You’re more worried about him now, aren’t you?"
He didn’t turn to et Yoon Seoyul’s eyes. His gaze remained fixed sowhere else, his expression visibly strained as the question slipped out. Even before hearing the answer... he already knew. Of course he was more worried now. Still—
"Sorry, hyung... I should have told you first... Is he soone dangerous?"
Rian spoke up anxiously, trying to catch Cheon Areum’s attention. He tilted his head left and right, leaning into his line of sight in an attempt to make him look at him. Before Cheon Areum could respond, Yoon Seoyul reached over and gently tugged Rian away from him. The movent finally forced Cheon Areum to look up.
"What are you really doing?"
His voice sharpened imdiately when he noticed what Yoon Seoyul’s hands were doing. Cheon Areum reached forward and grabbed Yoon Seoyul’s wrist, stopping him just as he began undoing the strap of the watch around it.
"I’ll ask for another one tomorrow."
Yoon Seoyul said it simply, as if the decision had already been made. Yoon Seoyul didn’t stop. Ignoring Cheon Areum’s hand on his wrist, he calmly finished undoing the strap and slid the watch off. Then, without hesitation, he took Rian’s arm and fastened it securely around his wrist.
Cheon Areum watched the entire process closely.
The watch wasn’t an ordinary one. It had been designed specifically for awakeners—equipnt that would only activate and adjust itself if the person wearing it possessed energy. If the wearer wasn’t awakened, it simply wouldn’t respond. Rian obediently held out his arm, watching curiously as Yoon Seoyul secured the strap. Then the watch suddenly faded.
It didn’t disappear completely, but its solid form dissolved into transparency against Rian’s skin, blending seamlessly with his wrist as if it had beco part of him. It was still there—Cheon Areum could clearly see the faint outline—but it had adjusted itself to the wearer. Cheon Areum mused lightly.
"He did awaken..."
"His class must be below B-Class since he doesn’t have a system."
To demonstrate, he turned on the flashlight of his phone and shined it over the band around Rian’s wrist. As the light passed through it, a faint rainbow hue shimred across the transparent surface—evidence that the watch was still there, fully active on him.
"Only you can take this off, Rian. This will let Areum know if you are in danger."
Yoon Seoyul spoke while adjusting the transparent band one last ti to make sure it sat securely on Rian’s wrist. Rian imdiately nodded. The mont the words sank in, his eyes lit up with a bright spark of excitent. Receiving sothing that had belonged to Yoon Seoyul—especially sothing so important—made him look both proud and unusually serious at the sa ti. He lifted his arm slightly, turning his wrist left and right to examine the nearly invisible watch, watching the faint rainbow sheen appear whenever light touched it. Rian’s excitent lasted only a few seconds.
Soon enough, he returned to the living room table as if nothing extraordinary had happened and resud working on his drawing with the sa intense focus as before.
"....."
Cheon Areum watched him quietly. So that was why. No wonder he had never been able to detect Rian’s presence with his energy before. It had sothing to do with the boy’s own energy—his awakening and whatever ability had co with it. Could it be invisibility? Or sothing similar? Lost in that line of thought, Cheon Areum barely noticed when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around him. Yoon Seoyul pulled him closer. Before he could react, warm lips brushed against the side of his face, placing a slow kiss near his cheekbone.
"Can’t you trust too to keep Rian safe?"
Yoon Seoyul murmured softly.
"You’re not the only one who wants him to be safe."
Cheon Areum tilted his head slightly, giving him a sideways look.
"Is that so?"
"Hm."
Yoon Seoyul humd in response. He leaned in again, pressing another kiss against his cheek—then another, lingering just long enough to make it clear he wasn’t planning to stop anyti soon. Well, Yoon Seoyul hadn’t kissed him enough today, so he let him be.
"Hyung, is being able to stop ti a power? Is that why I can wear this watch?"
Rian’s voice suddenly cut through the quiet of the living room. Cheon Areum and Yoon Seoyul both turned toward him at the sa ti.
"What?...You can do that?"
"Un!"
Rian answered confidently, still sitting on the floor but now looking up at them with bright, earnest eyes. Cheon Areum’s gaze imdiately shifted to Yoon Seoyul.
"Did you know about this too?"
"No."
The response ca so quickly that it was obvious he was refusing any responsibility before the situation could sohow be pinned on him.
"How are you sure? Have you tried to?"
"I was talking with my friends. We were discussing that if we ever had the chance, we would want to stop ti for a mont."
His hand continued moving slowly across the paper as he spoke.
"And when I ca ho, I was thinking about which mont I would pause..."
He glanced up briefly at Cheon Areum.
"When I saw you laughing at while Yoon Seoyul was patting the dust off my uniform. That’s when I wanted to stop ti and stay in that mont forever. I think I stopped it for a minute because I had to figure out how to undo it. I can do it just by thinking about it now!"
"I don’t see the blue thing you were talking about... I might not have one."
Unlike his usual excitable self, Rian remained surprisingly calm as he spoke. While explaining all of this, he continued carefully adding the final touches to the drawing he had been preciously carrying around with him in a sheet container all this ti.
"For how long can you do it now?"
"The longest I have stopped ti... maybe five minutes?"
Rian tilted his head slightly as he answered, as if he hadn’t thought too deeply about the exact limit yet. Then, carefully, he picked up the drawing. Holding the paper delicately by its edges, making sure not to smudge anything, he walked over and finally presented it to Cheon Areum and Yoon Seoyul, who were sitting together on the couch.
"This..."
Rian held it up proudly.
"It’s you, hyung... from when you were a baby."
Cheon Areum’s gaze lowered to the drawing.
On the paper was a small baby sitting on a colorful carpet, the background shaded in deep dark blue. Thin strands of light gray hair frad the baby’s soft face, while large, bright lavender eyes stared upward with an almost fragile innocence. A single clear tear clung to one of the lashes, trembling delicately as if it had just fallen but hadn’t quite dropped yet. The baby’s lips were slightly pouty, the expression caught sowhere between confusion and sadness.
"This was a picture from your childhood. Dad took it. It was my favorite picture of you as a baby... so I thought hyung’s baby would probably look like this."
He stepped closer and placed the drawing into Cheon Areum’s hands. Cheon Areum held it carefully and brought it closer, studying the tiny details. His own childhood photos were few. And even in those... he rarely smiled. But sohow, when he imagined Cheon Areum as a child, he had always pictured sothing different—running around, laughing, playing freely like other children. Yet the baby in the drawing wasn’t smiling.
Why are you also not smiling?
The thought lingered quietly in his mind.
"Do you think you can draw another one, maybe where I was smiling?"
Rian looked at him for a second, clearly surprised by the request. Then he frowned faintly.
"Don’t you like this one? I really think the baby will look like this!"
Cheon Areum paused, then chuckled softly.
"You think so? Alright then. We’ll fra this and put it up on the wall in the baby’s room."
He ruffled Rian’s hair gently, not forgetting the gesture. Rian’s face brightened instantly, his smile wide and proud now that his work had been accepted.
"The baby doesn’t have a room yet."
Yoon Seoyul’s calm voice cut through the mont, abruptly spoiling the mood. Cheon Areum slowly turned his head and narrowed his eyes at him.
Why would he say that now?
"We have empty rooms in the house. We can just choose one now."
"There’s no need to hurry," Yoon Seoyul said smoothly. "I’ll keep the drawing safe in the anti."
Ah.
So that was his real intention. As if Cheon Areum would fall for that. Before Yoon Seoyul’s hand could even properly reach the paper, Cheon Areum quickly rolled the drawing up and clutched it tightly in his grip, imdiately scooting away from him on the couch.
"Areum... let look at it too..."
"No. You want to take it for yourself, don’t you?"
"I won’t take it."
"Liar!"
Cheon Areum ended up half-wrestling with Yoon Seoyul on the couch, clutching the rolled drawing protectively like a child guarding his favorite treasure. Watching the ridiculous struggle unfold, Rian spoke up from the side.
"Why do you want it? Let hyung have it."
Sotis Yoon Seoyul could be more stubborn than his own hyung—and this was clearly one of those tis. Deciding it wasn’t worth interfering, Rian simply ignored them and began organizing his drawing supplies, packing them neatly together so he could take everything back to his room.
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