Dusk (BL Light Novel)

I resisted the urge to run to the café early and wait, and instead brought my uncle and arrived right on time.
First, I ordered an orange ade, then looked around to spot Gang Jaegyung. It didn’t take long—his jet-black head was easy to spot, sitting in a relatively empty area, slurping coffee through a straw.
Even when I approached with big strides, he didn’t notice me, seemingly lost in thought as he stared blankly at the table with the straw still in his mouth. He ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) didn’t seem to notice me at all, so I tapped the table like a knock, and only then did Gang Jaegyung jerk his head up and break into a wide smile when he saw me.

“You’re here?”
“Yeah, well.”
I gave a short reply, set my drink down on the table, and looked around like I wasn’t interested in him. Then I subtly tilted my head to fix my gaze on the decorative mirror running across the wall. The mirror was long enough to show the entire café and happened to reflect Gang Jaegyung perfectly.

He was groaning silently, wanting me to look at him.
If the mirror had been behind me or out of view, I wouldn’t have been able to sneak glances like this—but since Gang Jaegyung had come early and taken the perfect seat, it was to his credit.
Not knowing I was watching him through the mirror, and seeing that I wasn’t paying him attention, Gang Jaegyung pouted his lips dramatically.

“There’s something I want to show you, Goyoung.”
Then, uncharacteristically, he started rummaging through the bag he’d brought and pulled out a big box, so large it overflowed even his long hands.
“Do you know what I was doing while you were ignoring my messages?”
He placed the red gift box on the table. As he opened the lid, I peeked inside to find intricately folded small papers.

“Every time you ignored my messages, I folded a butterfly. Can you believe I ended up with this many?”
“Butterflies?”
I looked more closely inside the box, confused. Just as he said, the shimmering paper—red, pink, and white—had been neatly folded into butterfly shapes.

“You ignored me this much. Actually, I’ve got another handful at home, but they didn’t all fit, so I just brought these. There are 280 butterflies in here alone.”
He was folding these while I left him on read?
Even though I knew I shouldn’t get drawn into Gang Jaegyung’s bait, I found myself reaching into the box as if I were possessed. This was essentially an aggro skill. There was no way I wouldn’t get pulled in after seeing something like this…

I, now thoroughly baited by his bold play, picked up a red paper butterfly.
“Why would you even bother folding these?”
“Because I wanted to show you just how much you ignored me.”

“Man… You’re a funny bastard.”
I let out a dry laugh and flipped the butterfly back and forth. It was small, but folded with ridiculous precision.
“Do you realize now how much you’ve ignored me?”

“Are you giving this to me?”
“You’re not listening to a word I say, are you?”
I waved the butterfly gently in my hand and stared at Gang Jaegyung. He waited for my answer, then gave up with a deep sigh.

“I didn’t really bring them to give away, but… if you want one, I guess you can have it.”
Though he sounded curt, Gang Jaegyung’s eyes quietly lit up as he saw me take interest in the butterfly. Then he cautiously asked, “Do you like it?”
“It’s not that I like it… It’s just kind of absurd and funny.”
“My feelings of being ignored are funny to you?”

“Thinking about you crying and folding these just ‘cause I didn’t check my messages makes you look pathetic. That’s what’s funny.”
“Pathetic?”
“It’s like folding a thousand paper cranes to give your girlfriend. It’s just… pitiful.”

“Fine, I’m not giving you any. Give it back.”
Annoyed by my teasing, Gang Jaegyung shut the box lid and tossed it beside his seat. Left with just the red butterfly in hand, I clicked my tongue and handed it back too.
“Sulky.”

“Ugly.”
Well, well.
I had the urge to throw a snappy comeback at that bratty attitude, but I held it in and pretended to ignore him again, turning my gaze back to the mirror. Reflected in it, Gang Jaegyung stuck his tongue out at me like a kid—thinking I wouldn’t notice. Ugh. I really wanted to smack him once.

We fell into silence for a while. I wiggled my fingers on the table as if listening to the song playing in the café. Gang Jaegyung fiddled with his coffee cup, sneaking glances at me with a sulky expression.
When the song was about to end, unable to bear the silence, Gang Jaegyung gently reached out and brushed his fingers over the back of my hand like a tap.
“Do you wanna go somewhere after this? Something you wanna eat? Or… we could just get dessert here again, like last time.”

Since it was a direct question, I couldn’t ignore it. I looked away from the mirror and made eye contact with Gang Jaegyung. The moment our eyes met, his eyes seemed to glimmer faintly.
“Somewhere to go… Hmm. I don’t know.”
I was about to say that nothing came to mind, but then a decent idea popped up, and I opened my mouth again.

“Actually, what time is it now?”
“It’s just past our meeting time, right? Maybe 2:10?”
He answered with a trace of anticipation, like he was expecting me to suggest something nice.

You think I’m just gonna give you what you want?
“I think a PC café wouldn’t be bad.”
“A PC café?”

Seeing that Gang Jaegyung seemed intrigued, I cut him off before he could say anything more.
“We won’t stay long. It’s just… that newbie tends to log in around this time. I kind of want to check if they’re online.”
The brightness and excitement that had just sparked in his light brown eyes instantly dulled. His emotions showed so plainly on his face and in his gaze that I honestly worried how he managed to survive in this harsh world.

“You came out to hang out with me, and now you’re talking about that newbie?”
“Well, it’s just… they haven’t logged in lately. I’m a little curious.”
“Then maybe they quit. That happens all the time.”

“Still, I want to check. Maybe they’ve just been too busy to play.”
They’d been swamped with part-time jobs anyway. Muttering that, I shifted my gaze back to the mirror. Thinking I’d simply lost interest and looked away, Gang Jaegyung frowned and let out a quiet groan the moment I turned my head. This was fun.
How can I keep making him squirm like this? As I studied him, amused, my mind wandered for more ways to tease him. Gang Jaegyung, clearly troubled, kept stirring his coffee with the straw, then mumbled in a barely audible voice,

“Today’s supposed to be our hangout day, so stop talking about that newbie.”
“…Why?”
I wasn’t really asking because I didn’t know, but I said it anyway to make it clear I didn’t care about his feelings. Gang Jaegyung pouted and then rattled off his words in a louder voice, clearly upset.

“We made plans to meet today! I haven’t seen you in-game, you keep ignoring my messages, and now after finally meeting up, you’re saying you wanna check if that newbie’s online? After what, ten minutes?”
“Well… yeah, maybe. But that kid’s seriously a diamond in the rough. I have to raise him.”
He didn’t seem that attached to the game yet, so I had to make sure he got hooked.

At that, Gang Jaegyung just sipped his coffee in silence. His frown didn’t ease, so he was probably feeling pretty frustrated.
How should I poke him next…? As I tapped my fingers again, I broke the silence.
“If he just logged in more often, I’d already be working on him. And I’d introduce you too. You’ve never met him, so you don’t get why I’m so invested.”

“I’m not meeting him.”
“Aw, why not? Honestly, I think you’d find him interesting. He’s really good. Crazy good sense and mechanics. If you saw him, you’d understand why I keep bringing him up. But for some reason, your times never match.”
While listening with visible annoyance, Gang Jaegyung’s hand, which had been poking at ice with the straw, paused. He started moving again soon after, but I had already caught everything.

Oh?
“Their log-in times… You’d think they’d overlap at least once.”
“…”

“How can they not have met even once in over two weeks?”
Muttering to myself, I stopped wiggling my fingers. Gang Jaegyung was still moving, but something in the air had shifted noticeably.
“…Yeah, true.”

His voice was casual—too casual. It felt off, especially since he’d been whining jealously about Gonyanyanya2 all along and now was suddenly acting indifferent. He didn’t even realize how obvious he was being.
You’re too busy scrambling to think, huh?