Chapter Text
Han Sooyoung's first mistake is leaving Kim Dokja alone in her living room while she takes a call.
Her second mistake is leaving her laptop unlocked.
Kim Dokja recognizes the web novel page banner. He meant to check if one of his favorite series had been updated. It's by absolute chance that Han Sooyoung is logged into an unfamiliar account, and it's suspicious to him that Han Sooyoung—who constantly demands he read drafts as soon as he receives them from her—hasn't told him about this pen name.
It's a strange point of pride for him to get to read her writing before anyone else. What is he supposed to do? Not be nosy? After a quick scroll through the comments and descriptions, he can already guess the gist of this series.
Ways of Seduction, or WOS for short, follows the story of Yoo Joonghyuk: an ex-knight-turned-mercenary; a man with a terrible personality and overwhelming strength; a stoic but sensual lover with passion deep in his veins; a devastatingly handsome rogue against a world that turned its back on him.
Really.
Is this what Han Sooyoung writes when she isn't torturing her other characters with thousands of chapters of emotional and physical abuse? The torrid sexcapades of an ill-tempered, angsty mercenary with an alleged monster cock?
Despite the risqué porn every other chapter, she retains her roots as a master of violence and death. The world she's designed is impossibly dangerous. Most introduced side characters drop dead like flies, but apparently, those that fall into Yoo Joonghyuk's bed can live till the end of their adventure with him—as if this man is the eye of the storm, the sole safe haven in an otherwise bleak existence.
Even with all her gruesome worldbuilding offsetting the romance, Han Sooyoung is an excellent writer, and the smut is—
Well...
…Yoo Joonghyuk lifted her by her thighs, his wide hands leaving handprints on her soft skin with the force of his passion. Her throat was raw and sore from the moans he worked from her body, and she wasn't sure how much more of his intense gaze she could stand before throwing herself at him.
"Yoo Joonghyuk," she gasped, as his head dipped between her legs, seeking the heat of her core. As his tongue lapped up her intimate sweetness, she trembled, carding her fingers through his thick, wavy hair.
His brows, seemingly drawn by a single, uninterrupted stroke of a famed artist’s brush, furrowed with concentration as he…
Kim Dokja flushes.
Not his usual choice of literature, but there's a particular aesthetic appreciation for Han Sooyoung's… wordplay. As he scrolls past a post-coital snuggling scene, the soft click of Han Sooyoung's door alerts him to her return.
"Eh? Get away from my shit—" She drops her phone and bolts towards him, the obvious panic of someone who knows they've left something suspicious across her face.
"Sooyoung-ah," Kim Dokja says, backing away with his hands held up, narrowly avoiding Han Sooyoung's sharp kick as she wraps her body around her laptop, "I didn't know you were such a connoisseur of erotic fiction." She frowns and starts to open her mouth, but it's too late; his phone is out of his pocket.
"You seem to enjoy this tls123," he notes innocently, swift fingers swiping over the keys and loading up the familiar mobile site. Soon, he's openly scrolling through an account with web novel covers graced by a built, broad chest covered in scars, and adds, "Seeing as you've amassed quite a collection."
His finger stalls over a particularly saucy cover with a 4.9/5.0-star rating and a considerably high review count.
"Hm," Kim Dokja says, smiling as politely as ever.
Stunned, Han Sooyoung's brows furrow before the embarrassed rage kicks in, and she snaps. Her cheeks are bright red as she lunges at him.
"Wanna die?!"
Over the next few months, Kim Dokja teases her for her depravity, but she recovers quickly.
Her desire for his reactions overcomes her initial surprise at being caught. Han Sooyoung starts flipping it back on him by asking which parts he liked best since he's 'definitely read it all by now.'
To his chagrin, she's not wrong.
The problem is that Kim Dokja's endeavors to be a supportive friend and dedicated reader were meant to be something other than that. Supportive. If he'd known the predicament he'd find himself in, he would have read it much more closely.
Maybe he would have never read it at all.
■■■
When Kim Dokja looks down at the inky black marks on his body, he knows where he is.
"I'd like to take a walk in the gardens."
Seated on the windowsill of an opulent, spacious room that smells of medicine, he stares at the temple gardens below. The last minutes of sunset shines down on the lush plants below his fourth-story window; as pretty as a painting, something nice to look at but fast out of reach. The servant cleaning up the remains of his meal (herbal tea; soft, buttery bread; an assortment of tiny, bottled tonics that Kim Dokja nearly vomits at as he downs) hesitates.
With a pitying smile, the servant says, "It's too cold outside, my lord." Kim Dokja glances at the short sleeves of a gaggle of passing monastery servants, one of them with their hair tied up to prevent it from sticking to the back of their neck with sweat. "Perhaps once you have been cleansed."
Kim Dokja resists the urge to chew on his nails.
Being pampered is nice at first, so different from his lonely childhood, but after three weeks in this world, Kim Dokja knows that these walls are a finely decorated cage. He can't take two steps outside without guards gently but firmly urging him back inside. An honored "guest" in need of protection, even if it means imprisoning him in an opulent and secure set of rooms.
Somehow, Kim Dokja wakes up to the familiar setting found in Han Sooyoung's smutty web series.
He has no choice but to overcome his surprise at being isekai'd (although he supposes he perfectly fits into the average overworked salaried worker trope), and deal with the problem at hand.
The Cursed Lady is another sordid installment following Han Sooyoung's dark, brooding MC. Each volume has a different love interest as Han Sooyoung's equivalent of a Bond girl. The one he happens to wake up in features a sheltered, cursed noblewoman with a troublesome plot twist.
…From a young age, the noblewoman was afflicted with a curse. One that destroyed her body from the inside out, which led to her parents growing desperate while they secretly looked for a way to save her. In their distress they followed every lead, but each trail went cold.
Discreetly shuffled between every doctor and priest in the kingdom, twenty winters passed in this young woman’s life with no cure in sight.
Until a hand stretched out from a secluded religious sect, claiming experience with her particular affliction.
As they quickly ran out of options, they decided to send the woman to the mysterious temple against her will, where clergymen holding greed in their hearts promised miracles…
Now he's that noblewoman. Sort of.
(Damn it, why is there so much plot?)
When he looks in the mirror, he sees no red eyes, pure white hair, or anything outlandish to indicate his status as a love interest. He looks exactly the same as he does in real life, barring the new black marks swirling from above his heart, extending across his torso and down his arms like an elaborate tattoo.
Though he doesn't have the telltale chronic, often debilitating pain associated with the marks, his stamina has been reduced to trash. The smallest actions seem to exhaust him. He nearly passes out after a (supervised) tour around the monastery (and several subsequent escape attempts).
Kim Dokja had a desk job, and maybe he didn't work out as much as he should, but he certainly wasn't this weak.
"If I can't leave, let me enjoy the fresh air. It will be good for me."
The servant bites her lip, hesitant to oblige, but Kim Dokja is a noble. She may have her orders, but he can pressure her a bit. Kim Dokja might have tried to bolt the other times, but surely he can't escape from a fourth-story window with a body like his.
"I'll come to close the window before bed. Is there anything else, my lord?"
"You may leave," he hums with disinterest. It's the kind of dismissiveness that Kim Dokja's bosses might have used, but it seems to work here.
With a low curtsy, she obeys. The door closes behind her, the latch clicking into place as he's locked inside.
This is his chance.
Hopping off the windowsill, he throws the wardrobe open. A small sack is hidden towards the back filled with supplies, salvaged during his several unsuccessful attempts to escape. He wishes he had boots or something instead of the short heels angrily clicking across the floor.
It would certainly make this next part much easier.
There was no way Kim Dokja would be able to escape during the day. When they allowed him out of his room, there were always a thousand eyes on him. No, this world still follows the novel—Kim Dokja could try a thousand times and he'd never manage it on his own.
Kim Dokja needs to wait for him, after all.
His wardrobe is filled with clothes of various modest, but elegant designs. Chaste white and gentle ivories that Kim Dokja clumsily tied together to form a rope; a bit cliche, but Kim Dokja is merely playing along to the tune of Han Sooyoung's horny writer fiddle at this point.
There will be other times he will need to protect himself against the plot, but that comes later. After all, the words of the novel remain fresh in his mind, almost haunting with their clarity.
… After twenty years of obedience and taking every foul medicine, being sent here was the closest thing she had known to betrayal.
She’d heard stories of a Witch on the other far side of the kingdom, past forests thick with untold dangers. Mystifying tales of the Witch’s prowess, unmatched beauty, and the ability to twist the universe to her slender fingers had filled her with hope…
She sounded terrifying, the woman thought, but what choice did she have? What was there for her to lose?
Anything would have been better than staying here, with these priests and their snakelike smiles. Her family abhorred the usage of sorcery, of black magic different from the mana utilized by the clergy, but even if she was to die, she would rather die free.
Not here, trapped by these false holymen and their wandering hands...
Once outside, the sheltered noblewoman faces immediate danger—each time saved by Yoo Joonghyuk, an ex-knight mercenary that gallantly escorts her across the lands, protecting her from all sorts of evils… Sexual and otherwise.
Originally, she fell while trying to climb down—how could she not?
Climbing onto the railing, a rueful smile crosses his face as the refreshing evening air rustles his clothes.
She was weak to begin with, and shouldn't be engaging in strenuous activity, much less rappelling down the side of a building. The silks and other delicate fabrics were never meant to hold the weight of a human being, especially when tied by her inexperienced hands.
She fell right into Yoo Joonghyuk's arms, their eyes meeting as he'd saved her…
With his jaw clenched, Kim Dokja lowers himself off the edge, trying to make his way down slowly.
Fabric stretches and snags under his weight. If this wasn't what had happened in the novel, there's no way that Kim Dokja would have done something like this. Each shift strains the taut fabric, creaking like it'll rip any second. His shoulders ache with exertion, and his arms tremble.
It seems to be a race between what will give out first: the makeshift rope or Kim Dokja's grip.
For a moment, he's reminded of memories he tries not to think about. Of a time in his life when he'd felt trapped, desperate, like this woman must have as she tried to fight her fate.
In truth, he knew what he would have to do all along.
Kim Dokja lets go.
The fabric whistles as it leaves his hands, his balcony gets smaller and farther, and the endless sky opens up above him.
Stars twinkle in the dark, bright enough in this world that Kim Dokja wonders if he could reach out and grab them. He never hits the ground. Solid, strong arms loop behind his back and under his knees, holding him against a firm chest.
Grinning, Kim Dokja looks up at the bewildered, trespassing protagonist.
"Hello."
And then he says:
"If you don't want me to scream and alert the guards, Sir Joonghyuk," —Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes shake, his hold around Kim Dokja threatening to bruise his delicate skin—"take me with you."
■■■
Yoo Joonghyuk looks like he wants to hit Kim Dokja over the head to knock him out, but just as Kim Dokja had read, a passing patrol is about to turn the corner and forces Yoo Joonghyuk's hand.
In an impressive show of protagonist skill, Yoo Joonghyuk escorts him outside of the temple grounds without any issues. It's a little annoying how Yoo Joonghyuk is more successful in his single attempt than all seventeen of Kim Dokja's tries, but Kim Dokja has read plenty of ridiculous scenes including Yoo Joonghyuk's luck.
When Yoo Joonghyuk finally stops in a quiet clearing in the woods, Kim Dokja is still glancing over his shoulder nervously. The gaze Yoo Joonghyuk turns on him is piercing, and full of suspicion.
"Who are you?" He hasn't drawn his sword, but his fingers look like they itch to.
"An admirer of yours." When Yoo Joonghyuk actually places his hand on the handle of his sword, Kim Dokja breezily continues, "My name is Kim Dokja—a noble's son. The temple told my parents they could 'heal' me, but I've just been locked in a room for nearly a month."
It's almost hard to say the word 'parents', but he manages. Kim Dokja's story is plausible, many people are fooled by the temple's fraudulent values, but the problem is… the bastard man himself.
After having been betrayed and robbed of significant wealth by Anna Croft in the last book, Yoo Joonghyuk is in the middle of a cynical character arc.
Not that Yoo Joonghyuk was particularly trusting to begin with, but if Kim Dokja understands anything about tropes, Yoo Joonghyuk is in desperate need of saving from himself by some sex-driven character development.
Kim Dokja doesn't have love or interest, but he does have a sack of gold coins and knowledge Yoo Joonghyuk would be interested in.
His plan starts with convincing the protagonist to be his meat shield for a few weeks and ends with urging Han Sooyoung into writing wholesome, unproblematic slice-of-life fiction.
(Of course, there are a few additional objectives here and there—like "don't have sex with Yoo Joonghyuk"—but Kim Dokja will cross those bridges when he gets to them.)
It's his time to shine, right? He didn't spend a few weeks locked in a room for nothing. All Kim Dokja has to do is set the stage and Yoo Joonghyuk should follow the preordained path.
Compared to the journey ahead, this should be easy.
(As easy as purposefully falling from a fourth-story balcony can be.)
Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't look like he believes him, but he hasn't run him through with a sword, either. Considering that Yoo Joonghyuk once dropped a man off a bridge for little reason but inconvenience and bad timing, Kim Dokja considers this a win.
"The main road is nearby," Yoo Joonghyuk says, gesturing to his left and into the trees. "Follow it and you'll hit town before daylight."
In Ways of Seduction, Yoo Joonghyuk left the FL behind too.
If Kim Dokja had a choice, he would have preferred to avoid Yoo Joonghyuk altogether… Being next to the MC is begging to be thrown into outrageous, and probably (definitely) indecent situations—but he's at a disadvantage even with his knowledge. As coddled as this character was, Kim Dokja doesn't seem to have picked up any useful skills like magic or swordsmanship.
And to make matters worse, Yoo Joonghyuk is the only character with plot armor!
Kim Dokja might actually be more fucked without Yoo Joonghyuk's presence.
After being attacked by a beast and having a near-death experience, Yoo Joonghyuk had come to the FL's rescue. By the time she'd woken up, Yoo Joonghyuk was already branded a suspect in the "abduction" of a nobleman's daughter. The combination of the temple and her parents had whipped up such a frenzy that made it difficult to leave town.
A troublesome situation. Kim Dokja grimaces. It would be best to move now, while his disappearance is still undiscovered.
"They'll just take me back to the temple."
"Is that any business of mine?" Yoo Joonghyuk asks.
"You should make it your business, seeing as I know why you're here."
Yoo Joonghyuk pauses. They've been hiking away from the temple for hours. Kim Dokja ignores how his legs tremble from exhaustion, but he can't let up now. "You're looking for the Witch—I can show you where she is."
"How would you know?"
"I'm rich and well-informed?" Kim Dokja says, instead of confessing that he's read about Yoo Joonghyuk fucking women every which way across the kingdom, and maybe there were bits of lore scattered amidst all the sex. "I have an ailment for which there is no cure, and she's my only lead. Take me with you—we can both benefit from this."
"Go by yourself."
"I can't do that," Kim Dokja says. "My family is against black magic and it's a dangerous journey. I would only be able to make the trip if it's you escorting me."
"I don't deal with troublesome things," Yoo Joonghyuk says callously, turning around and walking towards the trees. Kim Dokja grits his teeth, following after him.
"When else will you get a chance to find her?"
"You assume I believe you?" Yoo Joonghyuk seems adamant, and his quick stride has him close to disappearing into the forest.
Kim Dokja is a bit nervous as he blurts, "You still haven't gotten your revenge for how she tricked you last time!"
Yoo Joonghyuk stops.
He turns around. Quick enough to send Kim Dokja stepping back, Yoo Joonghyuk closes in on Kim Dokja until they're less than a meter apart, his sword glinting viciously under the moonlight as he brandishes it in warning.
With narrowed eyes, Yoo Joonghyuk says, "I won't ask again—who are you? "
"I told you, I'm a fan of yours—" Yoo Joonghyuk's sword stops breaths away from Kim Dokja's neck. He resists the urge to swallow, lest his throat bob and he slits his own throat on Yoo Joonghyuk's blade, "—even a servant in the lowest household would know who you are!"
This isn't technically a lie.
Kim Dokja is a fan of Han Sooyoung's writing, and he enjoyed reading about Yoo Joonghyuk's adventures. Yoo Joonghyuk in the novels is canonically quite infamous for his deeds; the overpowered, world-shaking stories, not his bedroom exploits.
Damn you, you fussy bastard, Kim Dokja thinks. Yoo Joonghyuk seems to be searching for any sign of deception in Kim Dokja's expression. At the very least, Kim Dokja's desperation is genuine.
"I'll pay you to take me. Please."
In the tense silence, he can see Yoo Joonghyuk digesting his answer.
Ridiculous shit happens to Yoo Joonghyuk every damn day! He fights off creatures and beasts that others will never even know exist. All manner of absurdities follow the protagonist; why shouldn't Yoo Joonghyuk believe one more impossible coincidence?
After what feels like ages, Yoo Joonghyuk's eyebrow twitches. The sword drops, deftly sliding into its sheath.
"Twenty thousand gold."
"Fine," Kim Dokja agrees, far too quickly.
"If you're lying to me…"
Kim Dokja takes out his pouch and reveals two bright gems. Along with the ambiguous western royalty setting, Han Sooyoung played fast and loose with the fantasy setting, meaning things like magic and mana stones exist. Even a man like Yoo Joonghyuk can't doubt his sincerity with this.
(Or more likely, it'll make Yoo Joonghyuk several times more suspicious of him, Kim Dokja thinks with dry humor.)
The mana stones resting in Kim Dokja's palm are incredibly valuable, made of pure material humming with power. The noblewoman used them as emergency energy sources for when her strength gave out… but Kim Dokja needs them for something else now.
"Will this do?"
Kim Dokja presents the gems, easily worth ten thousand gold in two little pieces, and like Yoo Joonghyuk's blade, they catch the light, "Half now, half later. Get me there in one piece and you can have all the gold you want."
Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't say anything, but his silence as he accepts the gems is enough confirmation for Kim Dokja.
Ah...
Money is really, really great.
■■■
At first, Kim Dokja eyes the horse warily.
Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't even offer to help him up, not that Kim Dokja asks. He's never ridden one before, but thankfully, he doesn't have to know. The FL is familiar, and after a brief hesitation, he mounts the animal as if he's done it a hundred times.
Though the FL was bedridden for most of her life, the horseriding was likely a treat for her, something she didn't often get to indulge in. If Kim Dokja focuses, he can see glimpses of her life: her loving, but overprotective family driven to obsession; the gilded luxury with which she grew up; the solemn, sickly shadow that followed her always.
It doesn't feel quite right to pity her with all she was blessed with, but there isn't any other word he can think to describe someone spending their entire life inside only to die without truly seeing the sun.
However, her tragedies aren't unusual in the scope of this world. The bitterness inside him must be some sort of echo of her character, or a bizarre phantom memory, and he suppresses the emotion. This is a fictional world. She doesn't exist, and neither does Yoo Joonghyuk, not really. This is only a story, after all. What matters to Kim Dokja is surviving.
They travel in silence, Kim Dokja lost in thought.
The distance across the kingdom is unspecified within the book, summarized as a few weeks' journey. Yoo Joonghyuk insists they can make the trip in half the time—Kim Dokja doesn't want to stay any longer, but if Yoo Joonghyuk wants to make sure Kim Dokja doesn't die from exhaustion (which he already feels close to after a few hours of riding), then they're going to need to pace themselves.
The deal between them is thus:
Escort Kim Dokja (unharmed) to the Witch's cabin deep within the forest bordering the kingdom. Half payment now, the rest upon delivery.
While the half-payment is partly to make sure Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't leave him stranded in the middle of a forest, the true reason is that Kim Dokja can't afford to blow all his gold this early on. Having fled the city without his family's consent, this character's wealth is out of his reach, and his funds are severely limited. Nor can he use all the mana stones, or he'll end up being bedridden.
Kim Dokja could go back, but they'll never let him leave if he does. The irony isn't lost on him that he's been isekai'd into a world where he finally has a loving, present family and his first instinct is to run for the hills.
Kim Dokja refuses the destiny of a curse not meant for him, or to be poked and prodded by conmen and/or religious hacks. He's stuck with a pathetic body and a cranky mercenary sex god—not that he's interested in the latter, not in the way that most of Han Sooyoung's readers were.
Frankly, Kim Dokja doesn't see the appeal of Yoo Joonghyuk's brooding nature.
How does having a terrible personality make someone dreamy? This isn't a trashy male lead redemption story!
Still, he is the rugged adventurer type, and his looks are unfortunately as… spectacular as Han Sooyoung had described him. Yoo Joonghyuk hadn't flinched when the weight of a fully grown adult male dropped into his arms from a fourth-story window, but even so, Kim Dokja has a thousand questions for the hundreds of comments touting Yoo Joonghyuk's allure.
It's unreasonable to think that Yoo Joonghyuk's complete lack of tact would ever make him a good companion. His face is the only good feature, but even then his handsome lips are turned down in a permanent, impassive frown.
"It's not too late to go back," Yoo Joonghyuk says. "The dangers will only worsen as we travel across the kingdom."
Kim Dokja hasn't inherited any combat abilities. Holding a sword or weapon in his hand feels as clumsy as it would have in real life. His arm trembles when he tries to draw a bow, the arrow pitifully landing at the base of the tree trunk he was aiming towards.
However, his knowledge of herbology has increased. This world's medicine is a combination of science and magic, and the noblewoman spent most of her time with her nose stuck in books about it. Perhaps searching for a cure for herself. He can identify most of the plants they ride past, which is helpful, but mostly useless for keeping him alive in a fight.
"Your concern is touching." Kim Dokja grits out, rubbing the red mark on his forearm from where the bowstring snapped against his delicate skin. It might even bruise, he thinks irritatedly.
"A dead man can't pay his debts."
Yoo Joonghyuk isn't laughing at him anymore (he'd honestly scoffed when Kim Dokja had tried to fire an arrow), but Kim Dokja can tell the man is appraising him. Whatever he sees, Yoo Joonghyuk must find him lacking as Yoo Joonghyuk takes the bow and arrow from an embarrassed Kim Dokja.
"Do you have such little faith in your own capabilities?" Kim Dokja scowls.
"I can't protect you from your own weak body," Yoo Joonghyuk tilts his nose up at him.
This man is so rude. Just as Kim Dokja opens his mouth to respond, Yoo Joonghyuk silences him abruptly, hand held up. Yoo Joonghyuk brings their horses closer together and slows their pace.
Does he want Kim Dokja to shut up?
Annoyance races through Kim Dokja, but before he can do anything, Yoo Joonghyuk's hand grabs the back of his neck, forcing him to bend down as arrows whistle by.
Kim Dokja barely has time to shout before bandits start pouring out of the shadows. At least ten of them, all dressed in mottled clothes that help them blend into the trees. Yoo Joonghyuk grabs Kim Dokja's horse by the reins and jerks them both down the road in a quick gallop, but another arrow flies by and lands with a sickening shhk in the thigh of Kim Dokja's horse.
With a sharp whinny, his horse rears up onto his back legs.
He's a QA Specialist, not an Olympic horseback rider—Kim Dokja goes flying through the air, landing roughly in a thorny bush. His horse gallops away, kicking up dust as it flees. As soon as Kim Dokja is tossed off his horse, Yoo Joonghyuk hops off his own to begin fighting off the men closing in on them.
Kim Dokja has never seen a man die, but even with the gurgling of their assailants choking on blood, Yoo Joonghyuk is elegant even in violence. Soon, his face is splattered in blood, sword moving faster than what Kim Dokja's eyes can track.
Hiring Yoo Joonghyuk is worth every penny. The man is effortlessly effective in taking down their enemies. If he wasn't struggling to catch his breath from being tossed off, Kim Dokja would clap or cheer.
Ah, but nothing is ever so easy.
A well-placed sword swing catches at Yoo Joonghyuk's tunic, the sharp rrrrip of fabric ungodly loud even in the chaos.
"No," Kim Dokja whispers.
Before him, Yoo Joonghyuk's upper body twists with another elegant strike. His muscles shift under his tanned, scarred skin. Yoo Joonghyuk glistens with sweat, loose waves of his hair sticking to his handsome face, more blood dripping down his torso. The ferocious glint to his eyes, the sharp canines of his snarl, framed by full, handsome lips….
Kim Dokja feels faint.
The universe is merciless, but so is Yoo Joonghyuk, who kills ten people in less than twenty minutes.
"Are you injured?" Yoo Joonghyuk asks, walking up to Kim Dokja with his shirt torn in ribbons. His body is streaked with dirt and blood. Kim Dokja's mouth goes dry.
… Kim Dokja smacks himself in the face. Yoo Joonghyuk is unimpressed.
"You should go home now if this was enough to scare you." Perhaps this is his version of kindness if Yoo Joonghyuk could ever be portrayed as such.
Generous, yes, but only in bed.
"Just worry about getting me there in one piece." With a huff, he pats the dirt off his pants and keeps his face turned away, adding, "Or else you won't get paid at all."
He doesn't have to hide the high flush across his cheeks. Yoo Joonghyuk could easily assume it to be shock from the attack.
… shamefully, Kim Dokja wishes it was fear.
Making sure to force distance between them while pretending to calm their remaining horse, Kim Dokja curses himself once more. He shouldn't be looking at Yoo Joonghyuk like that just because he's shirtless and sweaty and hot. Definitely no daydreaming, either.
If he's looking, it's out of jealousy, or aesthetic appreciation. Maybe Kim Dokja gets why Yoo Joonghyuk is so popular. He's tall, dark, and handsome. A tortured past, filled with plenty of emotional traumas to untangle. But…
Absolutely not! Never in a million years!
He may be attracted to men, but not to brutes like Yoo Joonghyuk. Kim Dokja has no desire to be bent in half and broken by his cock, thanks. It's only because Han Sooyoung wrote so much porn, not because Kim Dokja wants to sleep with him.
Han Sooyoung, this world's unintentional god, wasn't very clever with Yoo Joonghyuk's romantic strategies besides his dubious protagonist charm and big dick. For lack of better ideas, she throws predicament after predicament at her main duo to force them into sleeping together.
Kim Dokja will remain strong. He has to.
This is merely the beginning of his troubles.
■■■
Yoo Joonghyuk is blissfully unaware of the ruckus Kim Dokja's disappearance has caused.
Having made excellent distance from the temple, they enter a town in the late hours of the night. Yoo Joonghyuk rents a room while Kim Dokja waits at a table, a thick hood obscuring his appearance from sight.
Because Kim Dokja changed their meeting, Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't have to carry his unconscious body into town. There is no one to link the suspicious mercenary to the missing noble.
Kim Dokja ought to pat himself on the back for figuring out a way to not make Yoo Joonghyuk the prime suspect of his supposed abduction; not that Yoo Joonghyuk would thank him for it, or anything.
Led wordlessly by Yoo Joonghyuk, they travel up the stairs of the inn towards a long hallway of doors. They stop in front of one, and Kim Dokja knows the answer to his question before he asks, but stupidly, he'd hoped things would have changed because they arrived early.
"Are these two rooms ours?" Kim Dokja asks.
"Just one." Yoo Joonghyuk enters, leaving a hesitant Kim Dokja lingering at the door. Steeling himself, Kim Dokja follows. "There were no other rooms available."
He's telling the truth, but Yoo Joonghyuk likely wants to keep an eye on him as well.
From where Yoo Joonghyuk lies in the middle of the bed, his hair tumbles into his gorgeous face, his body stretched across the hay-filled mattress. Unsurprisingly, he's still in his mercenary gear. As far as Kim Dokja is aware, the only time he's not in it, he's in someone. His dark eyes watch Kim Dokja enter their shared room, the last one available at the inn they'd sought refuge in during the late hours of the night.
Befitting the story, there is only one bed.
But, again, Yoo Joonghyuk is lying in the middle.
As broad and muscular as Yoo Joonghyuk is, he takes up a significant amount of space. Kim Dokja would have to cuddle up against him to not fall off the already small bed. Does he expect Kim Dokja to get in with him? There's no goddamn way. The FL had woken up in bed. There hadn't been any conversation about this in the original.
"You don't expect me to get in there with you, do you?"
Yoo Joonghyuk almost looks amused, "We aren't sharing."
Framed by his disdainful, handsome brows, Yoo Joonghyuk glances toward the table. Kim Dokja follows his gaze. A bedroll is perched against one of the seats.
… The floor?
"I'm a noble?" Kim Dokja says, dumbfounded. Maybe Kim Dokja is used to being looked down on, but this character certainly wasn't. Can Yoo Joonghyuk treat him like this?
"What part of your begging was noble?" Yoo Joonghyuk asks, and Kim Dokja feels his mouth snap shut. Full payment gets the bed, half payment gets the floor, Yoo Joonghyuk is saying.
Damn this body, damn this world. What's the point of being born into wealth if he can't use it? The small coin pouch he'd brought with him is already halfway emptied, and he can't pay for another room with the mana stones.
Having given Yoo Joonghyuk two stones, that only left one for Kim Dokja's emergency use. With an unreliable body and a long journey ahead of them, it makes Kim Dokja nervous. Besides, trying to pay with the stone for another room would be like trying to buy an ice cream cone with a diamond ring, and would surely attract attention.
Yoo Joonghyuk closes his eyes, but Kim Dokja knows from the novel that Yoo Joonghyuk barely sleeps. It's enough to have him silently stewing in fury. Moving Yoo Joonghyuk would be impossible. Sharing a bed with him is even worse. Kim Dokja settles into the bedroll on the hard inn floor.
Fine. Fine!
At least his virtue isn't in danger if Yoo Joonghyuk's uninterested, that absolute bastard.
In fact—it's encouraging! He'll get out of this damn novel!
And when he does, he'll force Han Sooyoung to write less traumatized, emotionally-constipated, uglier characters, Yoo Joonghyuk be damned.
■■■
They make it half a day's ride out of town before Kim Dokja's resolve is tested.
Having lost Kim Dokja's horse and lacking the means to purchase another, they end up having to share Yoo Joonghyuk's. Yoo Joonghyuk's body heat pressed at his back is maddening. Especially because Yoo Joonghyuk seems to find pleasure in watching him struggle to stay upright. Kim Dokja is horrified by how firm his arms and thighs feel against him, bumping up against him with every powerful stride.
To be honest, their uncomfortable closeness aside… traveling with Yoo Joonghyuk isn't as bad as Kim Dokja thought it would be. Han Sooyoung ghosted over the major bouts of travel in lieu of only writing the action, so there's plenty of "dead space" that Kim Dokja tries to fill with chatter.
He isn't usually one to do things like this. Kim Dokja has never considered himself outgoing, and Yoo Joonghyuk is a murder-happy psychopath at times… but Kim Dokja still prefers him over her main series' protagonist. Yoo Joonhyun pales in comparison to Yoo Joonghyuk's… colorful nature.
Besides, how many opportunities will he get to meet his favorite character? He's allowed to be a little curious. Kim Dokja doesn't have to want to fuck him to be interested in small talk. Most of the time, Yoo Joonghyuk is unresponsive or dismissive to Kim Dokja's attempts at conversation, but even the periods of silence aren't as stifling as they could be.
Hilariously, the more outlandish Kim Dokja is with his conversational topics, the more Yoo Joonghyuk actually deigns to respond; perhaps out of some sort of annoyance (or amazement) at his stupidity, but still.
It's at this point in their travels, where Kim Dokja thinks, this might not be so bad, that the world laughs in his face.
The horse stumbles on some rocks.
(Or maybe it steps wrong, or any irrelevant excuse of the universe's to get Yoo Joonghyuk in Kim Dokja's pants.)
Kim Dokja has no idea, but however it happens, they lurch suddenly. Kim Dokja grabs onto the first available surface, which just so happens to be Yoo Joonghyuk's broad forearms as he grips the reins. Instinctively, Yoo Joonghyuk's thighs tighten for stability, and if Kim Dokja thought he was caged within Yoo Joonghyuk's hold before, he was sorely mistaken.
Trapped between Yoo Joonghyuk's firm, muscular thighs and the horse, Kim Dokja's breath hitches.
"Stop fidgeting." Yoo Joonghyuk orders and Kim Dokja can't help but listen to the low timbre of Yoo Joonghyuk's voice in his ear, sending shivers up his spine.
What the hell.
As the sun dips under the horizon, Kim Dokja demands they make camp for the night. Getting off the horse after Yoo Joonghyuk, Kim Dokja slips. Before he hits the ground, Yoo Joonghyuk catches him, lifting Kim Dokja bridal style like he'd done when Kim Dokja dropped out of the sky that first day, as if he weighs nothing.
It does not leave him breathless and his heart pounding.
And then Yoo Joonghyuk drops him flat on his ass.
■■■
Traveling under the blazing mid-morning sun, a unicorn shows up on the road and starts nuzzling up against Kim Dokja.
While he's first delighted by the appearance of such a beautiful creature, Yoo Joonghyuk has a distinct expression like he's holding back a smirk. Then he remembers that unicorns are said to only like virgins. The creature gallops back into the forest before Kim Dokja can try and ride it if only to get away from Yoo Joonghyuk's stupid face.
Once they stop to refill their waterskins, Yoo Joonghyuk washes his face from a nearby stream. Water trickles down Yoo Joonghyuk's chest once he stands, sticking his tunic to his broad chest.
Perhaps if Kim Dokja was more honest, Yoo Joonghyuk would be less antagonistic towards him. Or maybe he'd be the complete opposite and distrust Kim Dokja even more. Even as a reader of the novel, Kim Dokja finds Yoo Joonghyuk unnecessarily complex.
Yoo Joonghyuk still has his doubts about Kim Dokja's motives and is quite open about showing them, but he's not as aggressive as Kim Dokja thought he might be, but could it just be Kim Dokja starting to win him over? … Probably not. The original FL kept the details of her curse close to her heart too, so Kim Dokja doesn't know if it would help or hurt to tell the truth.
Best to not show his whole hand, he thinks, even if it means Yoo Joonghyuk is convinced he's some spoiled, rebellious brat.
"Stop staring, or I'll charge you for that too," Yoo Joonghyuk says, one brow cocked.
Kim Dokja should leave. He can die, it's fine.
■■■
Actually, Kim Dokja just might die regardless.
A quicksand pit that actually sucks him up to his waist before Yoo Joonghyuk yanks him out and on top of him… The ground crumbles beneath him and he nearly falls off a cliff, but not before Yoo Joonghyuk tackles him to safety… He trips into Yoo Joonghyuk's arms enough times that he's pretty sure Yoo Joonghyuk thinks he's incapable of walking in a straight line… Every animal seems to want to eat Kim Dokja's face off…
Kim Dokja's life is endangered no less than five times in the next three days.
After Yoo Joonghyuk has to help Kim Dokja onto the horse (instead of falling on his ass) more often than not, he just starts automatically lifting him. Kim Dokja nearly punches him the first time it happens, startled by Yoo Joonghyuk's wide hands suddenly wrapping around his waist and raising him into the air.
Kim Dokja doesn't want to thank him, and he doesn't think Yoo Joonghyuk wants to be thanked, either. It's all for convenience. It's a hassle for Yoo Joonghyuk to watch Kim Dokja struggle pathetically to get up. Kim Dokja bears the humiliation in silence.
And now—
"You could just let me die," Kim Dokja says, weakly. Yoo Joonghyuk squeezes his hip, almost hard enough to hurt.
Yoo Joonghyuk scowls. "This is a terrible time for jokes, Kim Dokja."
With a sharp, disbelieving laugh, Kim Dokja tosses his head back. He can't believe his luck. He can't believe this is really happening to him.
Kim Dokja has been poisoned by a random snake attack. In the middle of the forest. With no healers and no antidote in sight. Yoo Joonghyuk has to suck the poison out. Han Sooyoung, you brat.
"Make sure to spit out the blood," Kim Dokja groans. It wouldn't do well for Yoo Joonghyuk to find out his secret. Yoo Joonghyuk tosses him an annoyed glance as if to say obviously.
Forced on his back against the hard ground, he looks up at the lush canopy and ignores Yoo Joonghyuk at his side.
Unfortunately, he is hyper-aware of Yoo Joonghyuk's hands on his hips. His left hand pulls down the top of his trousers and exposes the sharp, dark red snake bite on the curve of his hip bone. If Kim Dokja's outfit properly covered his midsection, then maybe he wouldn't have had this problem.
The problem is less the snake bite, and more Yoo Joonghyuk lowering his mouth to cover the wound. Kim Dokja stops breathing altogether as Yoo Joonghyuk sucks. And spits. And sucks again, harder. Spits. Brings his mouth back to Kim Dokja's swollen skin, returns the sharp graze of teeth, his tongue lapping at the blood.
Blood spots at the corner of Yoo Joonghyuk's mouth when he pulls away this time, a line of spit connecting them still.
Oh, shit. Don't get hard. Don't get hard. Han Myungoh's chest hair. Gong Pildu's breath.
Kim Dokja screws his eyes shut, palms pressed into his sockets, grateful that whatever writhing he does to hide his erection can be blamed on pain. The only pain Kim Dokja feels is shame, and a traitorous ache low in his belly.
Time seems to slow down to nothing as Yoo Joonghyuk's tongue laps at the wound.
"Aren't you done?" Kim Dokja asks shakily.
Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't say anything, but his tongue continues to swirl around the bite. Sensing something is wrong, Kim Dokja glances through his fingers.
"Oi, Yoo Joonghyuk—" Yoo Joonghyuk looks up at him with blown pupils and a flushed face. A white flash of teeth has Kim Dokja's breath catching as Yoo Joonghyuk's mouth moves over the wound again, teeth grazing against his hip bone…
Oh, hell. Kim Dokja's cock twitches. Is this an effect of his blood? Or the poison?
(Is it foolish to think about the logic of a fantastical world where everything is trying to get them to fuck?)
Either way, he has to stop this. Regardless of whatever's causing it, Yoo Joonghyuk will kill him for this.
Kim Dokja's hands clutch and push at Yoo Joonghyuk's shoulders. His body writhes underneath Yoo Joonghyuk. Unfortunately, the effects of the poison, however little remains in Kim Dokja's blood, has taken its toll on him, making his efforts to fight back as useless as a kitten's claws. Yoo Joonghyuk's hands travel over Kim Dokja's body, chasing exposed skin. His touch is scorching as they brush up his bare sides, down his hips to hook fingers into his waistband.
Kim Dokja should run. He should fight. He should try to talk sense into Yoo Joonghyuk—
"This will help," Yoo Joonghyuk says.
Kim Dokja takes one look at Yoo Joonghyuk's flushed, lustful expression, and says, "I don't think it will?"
Yelping when Yoo Joonghyuk tugs his trousers down to free his cock, Kim Dokja tries to close his legs. A shiver goes up his spine at the surprise chill of the evening air, but he's only cold for a moment before Yoo Joonghyuk shifts down. With one dismissive bat of his hand, Yoo Joonghyuk spreads his knees and pins him down by the hip with one hand.
"You've been hard this entire time. Don't lie to me."
"You don't care about that," Kim Dokja insists.
The first hot kiss of Yoo Joonghyuk's mouth on his cock nearly makes Kim Dokja cum on the spot.
And then he's swallowing Kim Dokja's cock, one hand holding down his hips to stop Kim Dokja from… bucking towards him? Away?
The smooth, wet sensation of Yoo Joonghyuk's mouth is unlike anything Kim Dokja has experienced. Kim Dokja can't think, he can't speak. The protagonist's hand dipping between his legs to stroke his balls will make him orgasm embarrassingly quick.
"Ah, Yoo Joonghyuk —" Yoo Joonghyuk sucks his cock like a man possessed, like he wants to devour all of Kim Dokja in one bite.
It takes only moments but feels like an eternity for Kim Dokja to climax, spilling down the back of Yoo Joonghyuk's throat. Yoo Joonghyuk hums as he swallows, sending another strange sensation through Kim Dokja that draws out the last waves of his orgasm, pulling Kim Dokja to a place that he can't handle.
Kim Dokja glances down at Yoo Joonghyuk between his legs. Spit glistens over Yoo Joonghyuk’s lips. His pupils are still blown, his face is obviously flushed.
He's the most beautiful man Kim Dokja has ever laid his eyes on.
Kim Dokja passes out.