There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 773: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 56

"Oh, so he finally got it?" Asa arched his brow while tidying his tie, glancing at his twin through the mirror in his Projo apartment.

"Not yet," Kar clicked his tongue at the way his twin sloppily tied the necktie and proceeded to take it over, yanking Asa by the necktie. "He has to audition for it first. Today."

"Ouch? Are you trying to help me or kill me?" Asa grumbled but pressed his lips when the necktie was tightened around his neck slightly. "Or are you doing this because you have to come to my graduation instead of waiting for him to finish his audition?"

Kar smiled sweetly, and the necktie tightened once again. "You seem to forget that I learn a lot of ways to turn anything into a weapon, my dear brother."

"How scary; I have Dad’s link on my emergency call," Asa smirked. "It reacts to my heartbeats."

"Smartass." Kar flicked his twin’s forehead and smirked.

"Hey, I am smart," Asa scoffed. "Don’t you know I’m the top graduate?"

Kar smoothed the tie one last time before replying. "But your final score is still lower than that girl’s, right?"

"Goddamnit! Where did you even hear that?!" Asa slapped the esper’s hand in annoyance while his twins laughed merrily.

"Don’t you know our sister knows everything?" Kar smirked.

"Damnit, Lucy!" Asa groaned and regretted ever telling his sister anything. "And it’s only a 0.1 difference, okay? So what if I’m not perfect?"

Kar shrugged. "How else will you woo her?"

"Don’t get cocky just because you have it easy," Asa hissed. "Unlike you, I have to work from a minus point of impression."

Right--Kar did hear the start of that story from Lucy, with some additions from Nari and Byul. How the girl was a victim of hate comments because she was simply seen ’interacting’ with Asa. While the girl said she already forgave him, she did tell Asa not to get near her and called him a nepo baby.

And instead of following that ’wish’, Asa kept appearing in front of the girl by joining the program early out of pettiness--provoking the girl just to realize afterward that he liked her annoyed reaction to everything he did.

Definitely something Nari told him not to do.

Byul told Kar that they even had a bet on how long it would take for the girl to slap him. Unfortunately, however, that time never came. Perhaps because Asa was doing enough to prove himself, she felt rather guilty about accusing him of using his privilege. Not to mention...

"She found out her orphanage received donations from the Svadiva Foundation?" Kar arched his brow.

"To be exact, she found out that the Svadiva Foundation was established by our fathers," Asa pursed his lips. "She even received the scholarship."

Kar tilted his head. What was the problem with that? It was their father’s foundation, not Asa’s. Even so, wouldn’t she feel thankful instead?

"Haa...just as I thought I was finally out of the minus point, she made a wall because of that." Asa exhaled heavily while wearing the new suit Kar brought to him--of course, courtesy of Aunt Rei. "I thought we could finally become friend, at least...but she suddenly treated me like I’m a young master and she’s a reluctant worker..."

"Have you talked to her about it?"

"I’ve tried! I..." Asa sighed. "But I need to be able to talk privately with her first for that, and it’s impossible with the way things are now. Even if I tried to text her, she would only reply if it was about work."

Kar arched his brow. Indeed--it wasn’t an easy game. Even so, he couldn’t help but think how amusing it was that she was only slightly annoyed about Asa being a nepo baby, but drew a line at Asa being the son of her benefactor.

Hmm...perhaps because she thought Asa being there because of Radia Mallacr had nothing to do with her. It wouldn’t affect her as long as she could prove her competency in the program. But the other matter was personal for her. Perhaps she felt the power dynamic shift. Perhaps for her, it was harder to face the son of her benefactor than a random nepo baby.

"She started talking formally to me, and it’s so~ apparent that she’s avoiding me," Asa grumbled. "I can’t even ask her to have a meal together in the cafeteria again, so how can I even ask her to a more serious dinner? Now, even if I provoke or tease her, she barely reacts."

Heh--no wonder Asa was being sensitive every time Kar teased his twin about the development with that senior girl.

"You like them older, huh? Like Dad," Kar stroked his chin.

"It got nothing to do with age," Asa rolled his eyes. "She’s just..." he chewed the inside of his cheek as his ear started to redden a little bit. "I like how feisty she could be, and when she stop doing that to treat me more politely...it’s just suck, okay?"

He didn’t mean it, but Kar couldn’t help but chuckle--which rewarded him with a thrown brush from his beloved twin. Of course, he naturally let it hit the wall instead of him.

"It’s so easy for you, huh?" Asa gripped his brother’s head, hissing in annoyance. "He’s been in love with you since forever, and you even live in the same space."

Kar let his head being shaken here and there--even his meticulously styled hair getting messed up--since he was in a good mood being told that his baby had been in love with him since forever. "Well..."

Asa looked at the grinning face in disgust "Screw you!"

"Pfft," Kar chuckled and hummed just to piss off his twin while fixing his messed up hair.

That being said, he also tried to look for a solution. It wasn’t like he really wanted to see his twin being miserable. Funnily enough, he thought of something when he recalled what Asa had said just a minute earlier about him and Byul living in the same space.

"Then...why don’t you create an environment where you can be together with her? Your first issue is that you can’t have a private conversation with her, right?" Kar stroked his chin.

Asa blinked. "Huh?"

"You said it yourself--we are nepo babies," Kar shrugged. "Just use that privilege somewhat."

In the first place, they could meet because of that spaceship program, which was initiated because Asa wanted to go to where the stars were. Their workplace was basically built on top of privilege.

"Huh..."

"Hmm...I don’t know much about this project, but can’t you ask the director to put you and her in the same research?" Kar tilted his head. He thought that if it were him in the guild, he could put two people in the same squad. There was no avoiding anymore then. "Preferably something that only needs two people to finish it."

Considering the girl’s personality, it couldn’t be a small group. There shouldn’t be anyone else, or she might only talk with those other people and use them as a proxy if she wanted to ’talk’ to Asa.

Although...well, whether he could successfully do something after that solely depended on his trick.

"Kar..."

"What?"

Asa held the esper’s shoulder. "My dearest twin..."

"Disgusting."

"Are you a genius? Have you become such an expert after starting a relationship?" Asa shook his twin’s shoulder, grinning widely. "Ah, of course you are! Dating and living together--of course you’ve done anything and everything!"

He laughed and clapped his hands, already organizing what he should do and who he should talk to in order for it to happen. Now that Kar had given him the idea, it seemed like the cloud had almost all dissipating. As expected, even if he grew to be an annoying prick, his twin was still his longest friend.

Before that, though...

"Oh! But you’re doing it safely, right? You know that protection is not just about pregnancy, right? Don’t make Father scold you, okay?" Asa turned around and pointed his finger at his esper twin but paused when he saw Kar’s expression.

He had thought Kar would give him a shit-eating grin--something that Kar could only do in front of him and no one else, not even Byul. A mischievous, childish, triumphant grin. But, no--what Asa saw was a wry smile and an awkward, averting gaze.

"What? What’s with that face?" Asa frowned.

Wasn’t Kar just full of smiles every time he talked about his relationship earlier? How many times had Asa groaned when their text was full of Kar’s dating reports? But what the hell was this?

Carefully, Asa asked the twin, even though they should be going in three minutes. "Might there a storm in the paradise, Sire?"

Kar chewed the inside of his cheek, looking even more troubled than before. What? What? There really was trouble? Asa’s brain worked hard to think about what trouble might there be when they were already living together.

Wait--thinking back, Kar’s expression changed when he mentioned about--

"Actually..." Kar bit his lips. "We haven’t...got that far yet."

...welp.