Dusk (BL Light Novel)

Until they met Moon Seonhwa, the place had been teeming with people, all noisy and bustling—but by the time they’d tidied up their lunch trays and stepped back out, most of the crowd had dispersed, and things had quieted down.
Inside the merch shop, rows of goods were neatly laid out across a long dura table set up like a display stand. Many of the items already had “Sold Out” signs taped over them. One section had apparently been completely cleaned out; staff were packing up, and someone rushed over, pointing to one of the displayed items while hurriedly asking the staff something.

It wasn’t quite empty, but with so many gaps in the display from sold-out items, there wasn’t all that much left to see. The only mildly entertaining thing was a long, shiny body pillow of the Silver-Fox tribe, stretched out like a mackerel and dangling from a hanger.
“All gone, huh.”
When I muttered that under my breath, Gang Jaegyung replied, “Yeah, looks like it,” and casually swept his gaze across the display as he glided forward toward the table, picking up a pen. It was a black ballpoint pen with a gold-foiled design of the Via tribe emblem etched into it. He didn’t seem particularly interested—just examined the pen blankly, turning it over in his fingers.

I guess he really doesn’t care about merch at all. I had kind of expected him to get all hyped up over each item, chirping about what he liked or didn’t like, so it was a little disappointing.
Still holding the pen, he glanced around and suddenly turned to ask,
“Go Yeong-ssi, is there anything you want to get?”

“...Not really? I just came to look around.”
“How about you pretend you’re helping me get the coupon and pick out a few things? I’ll do a little item dumping for you.”
He said it with a sly smile, eyes crinkling sweetly at the corners. …Do a what now?

Caught off guard by the unexpected term, I stood there blankly before asking a beat too late,
“Do what?”
“Item dumping,” he repeated.

The item dumping I knew was a gaming term—usually meant when a veteran player just randomly dumped items on a newbie or a friend without asking and then peaced out like it never happened.
“Take it as a souvenir. Nothing they’re selling here is that expensive anyway, so don’t feel pressured.”
He held the pen out toward me, like saying even something like this was fine.

…Not just buying me something—item dumping, he said. I’d never been on the receiving end of one even in-game, but I guess now I could say I had in real life. The absurdity of the phrase made me snort a laugh.
I rolled the pen he handed me once around in my fingers, then slowly nodded in agreement. There wasn’t really anything I wanted in particular, but that guy didn’t seem like he’d take “no” for an answer anyway, and like he said, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have a souvenir.
If I was going to accept something, I figured I should at least pick something useful—something I could keep around. A pen was safe enough, but since dropping out of university, I hadn’t really had a reason to use that kind of stationery.

This one could be on hold for now. I put the pen back in its spot and scanned the table with eyes trained by field-grinding for anything more practical. But most of it was clearly just ornamental junk, not even remotely useful. The mugs and tumblers looked semi-practical, but honestly, my place was already full of that kind of stuff.
I moved to the next table over and spotted a pouch with the Dusk logo on it. About big enough to fit a laptop. It reminded me of the tablet I always left lying around on my bed or desk. Might be nice to throw it in there...
While I was flipping the pouch over with a curious eye, a pale hand suddenly appeared in my field of view. He’d brought something and dropped it onto my palm—it was a small metallic object sealed in clear packaging.
“This kind of thing’s not a bad souvenir either, right?”

What Gang Jaegyung offered was a badge: a butterfly-shaped piece of metal with the Holy Knight class icon elegantly engraved into it. Wow, they really sell anything. I muttered to myself while fiddling with the wrapper.
The background was a dusky twilight color—very Dusk. The class icons were already known for being aesthetically pleasing, so even just silver-on-black versions sold well, but this one had clear effort put into the palette and pearl finish. It was no wonder the more popular class badges—like Assassin or Priest—had sold out completely.
The badge wasn’t as useful as the pen or pouch, but like he said, it did feel like something worth having as a souvenir. I genuinely liked the design too… and besides, if someone claimed to really love the Holy Knight class but didn’t even own something like this, it just wouldn’t feel sincere. That was part of it, too. I figured Zero Soft must’ve made it with that psychology in mind.

While I was busy voluntarily stepping into the game company’s trap, I tugged on the sleeve of Gang Jaegyung’s cardigan, who was looming over me, watching my face intently.
“Is that all? Let’s check the other tables too.”
But the place really had been picked clean.

He kept nudging ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) me to buy more, and though I grumbled quietly, something in his gaze made it hard to ignore him. So I lowered my head and gave the display one last sweep.
Even scouring the emptier racks didn’t turn up much that stood out, aside from that pen I’d seen earlier. Some of them had different designs—like English names of the classes: Paladin, Crusader, Ignorer, Doctor. I didn’t see Priest, but it probably existed and had sold out already.
The designs were decent, but since I didn’t use pens much, they didn’t appeal. If there’d been a pen with “Holy Knight” in Korean on it, maybe I’d have felt differently, but Paladin in English didn’t hit the same.

“...Just the pouch and this one.”
Gang Jaegyung took the items and glanced around before giving a reluctant nod.
“If you see anything else later, let me know. I need the coupons anyway, so the more I buy, the better.”

Still clinging to a bit of hope, he left me by the table to keep looking and went off to grab a Military Medic badge for himself. Then he flagged down a nearby event staff and asked if they had any art books left.
After a short wait, he came back holding a large paper bag and the art book, now wearing a completely satisfied expression—like he’d never been disappointed to begin with.
While the staff pulled out a card reader and processed his payment, Gang Jaegyung took out just the pouch and badge and handed them to me—pressing the pouch into my arms and slipping the badge neatly into the left pocket of my jersey, all while wearing that ridiculously pleased smile. I didn’t get what he was so happy about after willingly forking over money.

While I stood idly by waiting for him to return, a staff member who must’ve recognized him as “Jaesugang” flagged him down. He didn’t brush them off—seemed willing to chat—and judging from how long it was taking, he’d probably end up signing something too. A few more staff nearby started inching closer, clearly recognizing his voice.
“Hmph…”
I glanced over at Gang Jaegyung, then slid a hand into my pocket and fiddled with the thick plastic wrap of the badge. His mention of item dumping came to mind again, and somehow this neatly packaged badge felt like a tradable game item that hadn’t been soulbound yet.

...Item dumping, huh.
I checked his location again, then walked up to the table. Right then, one of the staff who’d been tidying up the remaining stock noticed me and politely asked if I was looking for anything in particular.
When people live together, give-and-take is what keeps the world in balance. I hadn’t even gotten the chance to gift him anything in-game because we played different races… But maybe now’s the time to show him what real item dumping looks like in real life.

He said he needed coupons, right? I leaned forward a bit and, in a lowered voice, gave my “quest” like I was an NPC.
“One of each item that’s still in stock, please.”
“...Excuse me?”

“Should I say it again?”
“Ah… Ah! No! I mean—yes, just a moment!”
The staff, caught off guard but accepting the quest, hastily put down the box they’d been packing and tapped the person next to them for help. One became two, two became three, then four—all of them scouring the merch shop, sweeping up whatever was left.

The merch they brought back soon filled a paper bag the size of a sketchbook. It looked heavy, but when I actually picked it up, aside from the mug and the body pillow, everything inside was surprisingly light.
Worried it might come out to less than I’d hoped, I scanned the items nervously and finally asked the staff,
“Will it go over fifty?”

“Uh, just a moment… including this… Yes! That’ll be 660,500 won.”
Still higher than I expected. Though… I didn’t love the weird number. Wouldn’t it be better to push past 700,000? But maybe that’d make Jaegyung feel burdened when he saw the coupon later.
...But whether it’s 660,000 or 700,000, they’re both overkill anyway—might as well go all-in. After convincing myself, I checked the price board nearby to figure out what I could add.

That’s when I spotted it—the priciest item left in the whole place.
“This… are all the white lifeform plushies sold out?”