Chapter Text
The last thing Goyo remembered was touching a trial meteorite and getting transported.
Now to clarify, he didn’t touch it willingly—well, not like him working in the TRA was truly out of his own will—but this time he truly didn’t mean to touch it!
It wasn’t his fault that while observing a two stars meteorite managed by the agency that someone bumped into him, made him slip, and caused him to touch the meteorite. He remembered hearing the sound of metal clanking before his surroundings melted into fluorescent colors.
He really hoped Hyunoh wouldn’t tear apart the office worker that accidentally pushed him.
—
‘Han Goyo (Little Lamb)’ has entered <Woes of a Young God>!
—
Goyo blinked. Hold on. That wasn’t the name of the trial he was observing.
—
◆ <Woes of a Young God> Main Quest: Surv$&??ve Al??#$nate Er?$%or
Survival upon quest success!
Erasure of existence upon quest failure.
—
..?!
Erasure of existence? Does that mean his soul will perish? Goyo surely doesn’t want that. And why was his window glitching when it should be an easy, two star meteorite?
Not only that, the window doesn’t tell him anything about the trial! What was he supposed to do now!?
Before he could curse out the damned system window in front of him—he was faced with a ceiling. His eyes blinked owlishly; he surely didn’t expect to see such a normal looking ceiling.
Actually, he wasn’t expecting to see a really normal, almost ordinary bedroom with a queen sized bed in the middle at all. The morning sun seeped through the blinds, creating a nice, cozy atmosphere around the room.
....At least there wasn’t immediate danger upon enter?
He still doesn’t know what kind of trial this was, though. Its name had been entirely different from the one he was inspecting, and it wasn’t a trial he had ever encountered while playing the Archive—not to mention the glitching system window was suspicious. Every time he asked the system window a question, all it showed was the error quest window.
Goyo felt like punching the person who’s managing it. If there was a customer review section, he would’ve given it a one star. Nevertheless, he decided to get off the bed and start looking around.
There really wasn’t much in the room. Some generic furnitures, closet full of clothes, and a really big 50cm plush that looks uncannily similar to CEO Cha.
It might just be his imagination. Truly. Possibly. He swears. But it looks so much like him that Goyo had half the thought of bringing it home as an item if he somehow achieved a true ending.
Literally look at it. It’s so cute. So big, too. Goyo wasn’t a plushie kind of guy but he’d definitely cuddle this to bed. It’s really adorable. Who can deny such a cute doll? The person who bought this definitely has taste, he knows that much.
It wouldn’t hurt to touch it, right?
It’s just a plush. It wouldn’t randomly come to life, wield the Daeil Yeorae, and attack him. Right?
Just as his hand slowly inched toward the very cute, adorable, and insanely lovable plush—the door to the bedroom slams open. Goyo flinched and immediately turned around, inky-dark eyes now face to face with the resident of this world and possibly the owner of the bedroom, too.
He expected a man, considering the choice of clothing. He however, didn’t expect a man with dark purple hair, violet eyes, golden pupils, and a really handsome face.
Really handsome. Very handsome. Oh wow, Goyo thinks he was charmed. Is it some kind of monster with a charming skill? He was absolutely dazed. The last time he had spotted such a beautiful npc was back in <Call of Void>, he just didn’t expect this world’s npc to look similar to his team’s captain.
Wait.
“Lieutenant Colonel Je is that yo—”
“What are you wearing?” Lieutenant Colonel Je cut him off.
“What?”
Goyo looked down at his attire. It’s the basic TRA uniform given to Adaptees, and it’s what he wore most of the time while working. Why was the man questioning it now?
His eyes looked back up and shot him a pointed look. “What are you wearing, Lieutenant Colonel Je?”
Hyunoh was wearing a black t-shirt and sweatpants. Not only that, Goyo just realized the lack of a gas mask covering the lower half of his face. Yes, he has seen the man’s eyes before, but he had never seen his full face! This is a first for him, and why was he so handsome?!
Additionally, a pastel pink apron was currently wrapped around his body. The shorter man was even more dumbfounded.
Now that Goyo thinks about it, trials would assign them clothes befitting of its setting. Like how he had worn a HapFactory uniform when he had entered a trial for the first time. The shorter man looked at Hyunoh, then at himself again, and thought: Am I the anomaly here?
Has his status as a young god caused an error somehow?
Before he could ponder more on it however, the lieutenant colonel had steadily approached him and grabbed his face.
!?
“Wait Lieutenant Colonel—”
A hand was pressed against his forehead. “You’re not sick,” the taller man noted.
Goyo’s brows furrowed. Then the hand touching his forehead slides down to cup his cheek. Golden pupils stared at his eyes, studying his face intently.
Hyunoh then reached a conclusion. “Is this one of your cosplays?”
What?
“No, Lieutenant Colonel Je what are you even talking abou—”
“And why do you keep calling me that?”
…what is this?
“...Calling you what?”
“That lieutenant thing. I don’t like it.”
’Then what am I supposed to call you?!’
His face practically screamed that, and Hyunoh looked at him as if he was the dumb one. Like the answer was so obvious that it shouldn’t have taken him this long to reach a conclusion. Goyo thought deeply. Then, he attempted a reply:
“...Hyunoh-ssi?”
The frown on Hyunoh’s face grew.
Fuck. That’s the wrong answer.
His captain’s eyes seemed to be screaming at him to stop joking around, but he wasn’t even joking around to begin with! He truly doesn’t know!
Goyo gave a strained smile at the npc that looked uncannily similar to the Je Hyunoh from his world. He had already concluded that this wasn’t the lieutenant colonel that he knew—still, treating the man any differently just because he knew that it’s an npc was hard.
“Um,” Goyo started, nervous. “Can.. I get a hint, at least?”
“Hyung.”
Oh okay, that was fast. Hyunoh gave him the answer almost instantly. The shorter man however, didn’t quite catch that. “What?”
“Hyung.”
“But lieutenant colonel—”
A glare.
“Uh, Hyung-nim—”
A death glare.
“Right, Hyung.”
His gaze softened, and Goyo felt like he just dodged a meeting with the grim reaper. He internalized the relieved sigh he almost let out in an attempt to not irk the man in front of him. Not only do they look similar, they also act the same.
Seriously, can’t this one just be a little nicer at least?
Not only that, how was he supposed to achieve an ending here? There wasn’t a clear objective that he needed to do, and failure means his being could be erased. He doesn’t exactly know what that meant, but he’d rather not fail.
It was then that inky-dark eyes trailed off to the hands cupping his cheek—despite the lack of claws, he had been feeling the cold sense of metal against his skin. Lo and behold, there was a ring slotted nicely on his ring finger.
Goyo’s eyes widened. And right away, he blurted out. “Lieutenant Colonel Je, you’re married?”
If Hyunoh was bothered by the way he had addressed him, then Goyo didn’t notice. Instead, he was far more focused on the way his face contorted, like he was looking at someone who had gone crazy.
“I- I mean,” the shorter man tried to amend his statement. “Um, congratulations! Who was the lucky girl? Haha..”
No offense to his boss, he just didn’t expect there was someone crazy enough who would want to marry this sadistic psychopath. Like seriously—if the only thing that changed was the fact Hyunoh wasn’t in that horrible get-up, then doesn’t that mean his personality stayed the same?
Poor girl. Goyo will send his prayers to her. It must’ve not been easy.
“Goyo,” at the familiar way he addressed him, the shorter man felt slightly more relaxed.
The next words, however.
“We’re married.”
Wait wha—
The last thing Goyo remembered was falling asleep in his bed, in Hyunoh’s arms, whilst also hugging his 50cm Cha plush.
He did not remember waking up, going outside, and ending up in some kind of agency filled with strangers. Not to mention the fact he was still in his pajamas; a white t-shirt with a lamb printed on it and pants that only reached his knees.
It was not an attire he’d wear to go outside unless it was his porch.
And in front of him were unfamiliar faces—and some familiar ones, too. Especially..
“..Hyung?”
O o
An emoticon appeared.
It’s been awhile since he had last seen the man wear his goggles. He remembered the time he first saw his eyes, a beautiful shade of purple with golden pupils. And Goyo grew to love gazing at them, finding himself lost in violet hues during their quiet moments.
So seeing him with his LED goggles, and a gas mask covering his face, was like being thrown back into the past. Back to when they first met.
It wasn’t just his hyung’s attire that was strange.
—
You are the System of planet ’Earth.’
—
There has been a window floating right beside him with words that he did not understand.
System? Like those in webnovels and games? Goyo knew some bits about them, but what does it mean when it said he’s the system? Is he like the administrator? How does that even work?
Just as he was wondering what the window meant, there was a shout.
“Crazy Chestnut!” A familiar voice.
Goyo quickly threw his head around to the source. There was a man almost 190cm tall, with hair dyed in red and a face that reminded him of a fox.
Perhaps feeling a little relieved at seeing a familiar face, the shorter man shouted back.
“Hanmuk-hyung!”
The aforementioned man stilled almost immediately, like seeing someone he didn’t recognize.
Did I see that wrong?
Right beside him was Haein, who seemed to be confused on what’s happening.
Shouldn’t it be him who’s confused, here? Why was everyone in uniforms whilst he wasn’t? And in the first place, where was he? He had thought that it was his husband’s agency, but Goyo had been there before, and it certainly doesn’t look like this.
And the staff there certainly didn’t wear a dark-blue uniform like the ones he’s currently seeing, unless the director had done a rebranding.
“Um,” Goyo tested the waters. “Haein-noona?”
Instead of Haein answering however, it was Hanmuk.
“Whoa, seriously, this is insane. It’s like an entirely different person.”
Haein quickly turned to a nearby researcher, Goyo didn’t miss the troubled look the woman had. “What happened?”
The researcher, perhaps feeling nervous, had flinched and squeaked the moment he was addressed. Then anxiously, he stammered out.
“W- We- Well, Han Goyo-ssi was looking a- at a two star meteorite and s- someone accidentally, um, b- bu- bumped into him. And–”
“Get to the point.”
“Ack! I’m sorry! He got transported into the meteorite but seconds later a man bearing the appearance of Han Goyo-ssi suddenly came out and we don’t know what happened!”
Meteorite? Transported? What the hell was this guy saying?
There were more talks about something called trials, how it should be a relatively safe and easy trial and how something like this never happened before. But Goyo didn’t understand what they were even talking about in the first place.
He was confused, and most importantly anxious in the unfamiliar environment, that he had instinctively sizzled up to Hyunoh’s side.
Clink.
He looked toward the source of the sound. Metal claws, clinking together, and then an empty LED goggles staring at him.
Hearing the crazy blabber of the researcher, the confused look of his friends, and the strange floating window in his vision led Goyo to believe that this wasn’t his world. Or at least, it’s some alternate dimension. Like the multiverse.
It should’ve freaked him out. And to be honest, it did. He wondered what happened to his husband; Hyunoh was the clingy type, so how would he react if he suddenly found out that he had disappeared? He certainly didn’t want to imagine it.
There was also this strange feeling in his chest that he doesn’t belong here. Like he was a glitch in the universe, someone that shouldn’t have existed. And from the mutterings he overheard, this world also has its own Han Goyo.
So why was he here, then?
He couldn’t help but miss his husband. And also his Cha plush. Damn it all, couldn’t they also have transported the plush? At least he’d feel less lonely and anxious.
Despite the uncomfortable feeling in his chest and the familiar yet unfamiliar faces of his friends, the Hyunoh of this world felt strangely.. normal. The same. Like nothing was different except for his peculiar attire. But he knew, deep down, it wasn’t him.
It wasn’t the sunbae he had met at the ripe age of twenty, the sunbae who had a hobby for gardening, the hyung who had kissed him during his graduation, and the man whom he had exchanged vows with and married.
It wasn’t him. And the thought made him miss Hyunoh even more.
Goyo nervously glanced at the black LED screen, his mind wondering if the eyes beneath it were the same. There were voices in the background; of Hanmuk chiding the researcher for not being careful, Haein asking what they should do now, and a mention of Samra along the way that he didn’t bother paying attention to.
Instead, he leaned closer to the man that looked the most dangerous of them all and tugged on his clothes. He had this bizarre feeling since earlier that the Hyunoh of this world wouldn’t push him away, and he was right. The man didn’t.
Inky-dark eyes gazed at the tuft of dark-purple hair that peeked from under the hood, and quietly, he murmured to himself.
“I want to go home.”
To where his Hyunoh was. To where his real home was.
Goyo didn’t even notice when metal wings had materialized—he didn’t even know the existence of it—nor did he process the arms that were slung under his knees and back, effectively picking him up in a bridal carry. The shorter man had let out a yelp and instinctively wrapped his own arms around Hyunoh’s neck, eyes squeezed shut and unsure of what was happening.
The next thing he knew, he was already being whisked away.