There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 765: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 48

The moment he received the call, Byul immediately stood up and ran out of the classroom, leaving his two best friends looking at each other in shock. After all, they had never seen Byul that excited--not even when he received his award.

But Byul didn’t care about anything at that moment. He rushed toward the library, which was empty during graduation, and went to a corner, hidden from anyone--even though there was no one there. He looked at his screen again, and his heartbeat increased even more. He patted his cheeks, feeling the heat spreading all over his face.

Is this real? Is this real?!

He looked at the screen again, double and triple-checking the account, making sure it was from the right person. His fingers were trembling, even while he told himself to calm down.

"Okay, stay cool...stay cool..." Byul took a deep breath. There was one sure way to find out if it was truly the owner of the account. Byul took another deep breath and pressed the call button.

Just a normal call. He wasn’t brave enough to do a face-to-face. Not to mention, he was sure his face would be so messy and ugly.

As the connecting sound was made, Byul bit on his nail, waiting. When a clicking sound could be heard, he almost failed to breathe.

[Byul?]

The low, deep voice he had been missing all this time. Byul bit his folded knee to prevent himself from screaming. So what if he graduated that day--he still felt like a young teenager in love.

"H-hyung?" he finally found his voice. "Is it really you, hyung? Are you...are you out of the Tower?"

[Yeah, I just got out] the voice was gentle, telling Byul that his hyung hadn’t changed at all. [Lucy made an automatic reminder that it’s your school’s graduation. I heard you’re in an art and performance school?]

"Y-yeah," Byul made a mental note to send Lucy a box of season-limited chocolate. "Umm...hyung--"

Byul felt his throat choked suddenly from nervousness. For a while, he couldn’t continue until the gentle voice caressed him again. [Byul, I don’t think I can come to your graduation, but--]

"Oh--no, no," Byul shook his head quickly, finding his voice again. "You don’t have to go out of your way to come, Hyung. Just..." he bit his lips and steeled his heart. "Can...can we still meet...today? I--I know you need some rest, but...if you can...o-only if you can..."

A soft chuckle could be heard, stopping Byul’s rambling. [I just want to say that I won’t be able to arrive there in time for your graduation. Let’s see...maybe slightly after midday? Where will you be at that time?]

Byul wanted to scream again, but he resorted to clenching his fist and punching the air in triumph. He thought for a second, looking for a place where they could meet without any disturbance. Somewhere his parents wouldn’t be around...or cameras. Hmm...how difficult.

"Umm...I can wait at school, Hyung...do you mind?" he asked carefully.

[School? Not in a restaurant or something? Shouldn’t we celebrate your graduation?]

Oh, Gods--restaurant? Like a date?!

Byul slapped his head to stop himself from delusion. Between them, going to a cafe or a restaurant was nothing special, geez. They had been doing it since they were kids.

Haa...was it because he had been taking romance projects these days?

[Byul?]

"Oh, umm..." Byul shook his head and focused back. "I want to take a picture with you, Hyung--at school, I mean. And...and if you have more time, can we go celebrate with a meal afterward?"

[Alright] the answer filled Byul’s heart with warmth. [See you later, Byul]

"See you, Hyung..."

Even after the call ended, Byul was still crouching in a daze for a few minutes. "Wow..." he whispered to himself. "Oh, my Gods..."

He clasped his mouth, screaming silently into his palms. After doing a set of breathing exercises he learned from his vocalization class, Byul stood up. Before going out to join his friends in the hall, however, he stopped in front of a window, looking at the backyard.

The backyard of the school was a park that students could use to relax, eat, or do their homework. In the corner, there was a tree he didn’t know the name of, with leaves and white flowers dangling down the branch, creating a beautiful canopy.

There was a legend saying that if two people who weren’t in a relationship took a picture there, they would be a couple in the future.

Byul wasn’t much of a believer in that kind of thing, but...there was no harm in trying, right? At any rate, the place was also beautiful--although the students there had already grown bored of the view.

Honestly, Byul was bored of it too after three years, but...at that moment, the tree suddenly looked very, very enticing.

He had been waiting for four years. He could wait for four more days, much more just hours.

* * *

How adorable. Kar smiled unconsciously inside the car driving out of the safe zone, before he covered his lips with his hands and sighed.

Haa...it was true that people only fully realize how precious something is after a long time of absence.

He didn’t know that his mind would be filled with that last face he saw; of a sobbing fourteen years old boy. Was it guilt? He knew he was going away to avoid that crying boy. He adored the boy so much that he didn’t want to hurt the boy’s growing feelings, but...

When he was actually inside and could think about it better, he realized: wasn’t disappearing like this from the boy’s life would hurt the boy too?

Haa...nothing was easy. It also wasn’t easy to face that he wasn’t that individualistic. That he was lonely. He missed that boy, as much as he missed his family. Several times, he was thinking of returning instead of going forward. But...

What was the point of leaving in the first place, then?

With that thought, he continued pushing forward. Climbing harder than anyone. He became so used to sleeping and eating in the wild, busy surviving that he didn’t have any time to think about his loneliness.

Well...if his father could do it, so could he. After all, he was carrying the genes of two survivors.

Was that why? As if he was hit by karma, one of the trials compelled him to make a choice. Thrown into a world of illusion, Kar was faced with a destroyed world. A world trampled by beasts like in the Age of the Apocalypse. His house had collapsed; his family’s hill burned down. Powerful monsters poured out of a massive crack in the sky, and all the people he held dear were in danger.

At that moment, he immediately rushed toward where the crying boy was, instead of his twin or his other family members. But...that was normal, right? His Dad was strong; he should be able to keep the rest of his family safe. Lucy was also strong, and although they weren’t espers, his father and twin were not weak. Nari was an esper, and so did her parents--even if her mother wasn’t an active one.

But Byul...Byul was just a normal boy. Of course, he had to save the boy first!

Kar clenched his fist and closed his eyes, frowning deeply. He didn’t want to remember that trial anymore. The image of Byul getting hurt in his arms was...

"Are you alright, Young Master?" the driver, his old bodyguard Einar, asked worriedly.

Kar opened his eyes and took a deep breath, shaking the image out of his mind. "Yeah, don’t worry."

"Please have some rest, Young Master. We’ll arrive at the public portal soon."

"Mm..."

Indeed; using a public portal was better than borrowing a private one owned by Mortix. He had to pay for it, but the public portal was made for vehicles, so he could just stay inside the car. If he used one of Mortix’s portals, he had to embark a helicopter to the nearest branch, use the portal, and change to a car again.

Too complicated.

Besides, he didn’t want more people to know he was done with the Tower. He even asked the administrator for a hidden door so he wouldn’t have to go through the congregation in front of the Tower. Unfortunately for Kar, he had a very distinguished face, being similar to his father. The reporters would immediately flock to him if he got out from the front gate.

Well, there was always a perk when his father’s was the patron deity’s favorite. The administrator led him to a hidden path while sending his old bodyguard to fetch him at the tunnel’s exit.

Phew...if he were to get trapped by those reporters, he wouldn’t have the time to reach Althrea by lunchtime.

He was also lucky that there wasn’t much queue for the portal, so he could arrive in Althrea an hour before midday. With this, he should be able to reach the art school within his promised time.

"Oh, it’s young master Byul," Einar suddenly said, pulling Kar out of his daze.

He saw it first before understanding what it was. As the car drove out of the portal station, a large, digital commercial board greeted his vision. It was a commercial for what seemed to be a new generation commlink for youth, showing a bright, fresh smile of a boy dancing energetically with the commlink on his wrist.

"He looks...different," Kar muttered, following the movement with his eyes before the car drove further away.

"Right? You’ll be surprised, Young Master. He’s almost as tall as the Patriarch last time I saw him," Einer chuckled. As someone who had been with the children when they were only as tall as his knees, it was always fascinating.

Kar arched his brow, truly feeling the passage of time. Aside from a bit more muscle, Kar hadn’t changed much since four years ago. Byul, however, was hit by puberty when Kar was in the Tower. The ’boy’ had grown much taller; his adorable face became more angular and slightly sharpened along the jaw--almost reminded Kar of Han Joon.

What did not change from Byul was the slightly curly hair and the bright, round eyes that made him look fresh and youthful.

Well, he was still young. Eighteen that year. Still...

Kar stared as they drove past more commercial boards and saw Byul again--for a skincare product this time. And then he saw one for a sports drink in the screen mounted on the car, and of course, a SavAsh commercial.

Einar laughed at Kar’s bewildered expression. "Young master Byul received an award last time, so he got a lot of commercial offers this year."

"I see," Kar looked out of the window in fascination. "He’s not a kid anymore, huh?"

He smiled, staring at each commercial board they passed while wondering if Byul going to appear again. Indeed, the boy he knew was no longer a kid.

He was a star.