Chapter 159

The contestants’ gazes moved back and forth between the two couples.

Tommy and Hee Jun, walking in front, kept a handspan of distance between them and were entirely occupied with teasing each other.

The ones with their fingers intertwined were Yo Han and Gyeol. More precisely, Yo Han was holding Gyeol’s hand.

Gyujin gave a short whistle. Hanseul, sitting in a corner with his hood pulled up, shot him a brief glare.

Jun swept back his hair, turned his cap around backward, and sat down ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) facing away from them, while Sun merely watched everyone approach with a silent expression.

“Did you have a good time?”

Isu stood in the lounge doorway and welcomed everyone with a bright smile.

Conscious of the attention on them, Gyeol shook his hand once in an attempt to pull free, but Yo Han stubbornly refused to cooperate.

Should I just shove him into the ocean?

Gyeol calmly suppressed the fleeting thought.

“Isu, did you sleep well? Did everyone have a good night?”

Tommy, the first to reach the lounge, greeted them with a beaming smile.

“King Potato’s face is glowing. Ah, it’s blinding.”

“Hee Jun looks like he came back completely drained.”

“That is exactly what happened.”

The familiar jokes went back and forth, and Gyeol soon reached the lounge as well.

Let go already.

When Gyeol lightly shook his wrist again, Yo Han finally squeezed his hand once before releasing it.

His gaze lingered like a trailing touch. His eyes held a smile and a weight of unspoken meaning.

Gyeol’s fingertips burned with the warmth and sensation left behind. He quietly curled his other hand over them.

“Yo Han, aren’t you making it a little too obvious that you’ve been to Ivory Mansion? How are the rest of us supposed to survive the jealousy?”

“You look no less refreshed than someone who went to Ivory Mansion, Gyujin. You seem to be in excellent condition.”

“Yes, yes. I was so terribly jealous that I made sure to eat and sleep well here instead.”

“The island must suit you.”

“No? Mansions, hotels, infinity pools—those are what suit me too, just like you.”

Yo Han took Gyujin’s mischievous remarks in stride without showing the slightest annoyance. Remembering how Gyujin’s comments had repeatedly left him with nothing to say, Gyeol found himself impressed all over again. At times like this, Yo Han truly was remarkably good with people.

“Hello. Good morning.”

Feeling slightly awkward, Gyeol bowed his head and stepped farther into the lounge, searching for an empty seat.

He inevitably met Sun’s eyes across from him. Sun gave him a smooth, composed smile and greeted him.

“Good morning, Gyeol. Have you eaten breakfast?”

He was the same as always.

Gyeol concealed the heavy pressure in his chest behind a smile and sat in the empty chair beside Jaekyung.

“Yes. We had Korean food.”

“Good. The food at Ivory Mansion is great.”

Jun, seated diagonally across from him, responded lightly.

“Want something to drink? They gave us yogurt drinks this morning, so everyone had some.”

“Oh, sure. I’ll try one.”

Jun stood and brought over a bottled yogurt drink.

A cute strawberry mascot was printed on it. He even opened the cap before handing it over, and Gyeol silently drank the yogurt. It had a pleasant tartness and sweetness and was surprisingly good.

“This is good.”

“Right? Sun drank two bottles earlier.”

“I like the kiwi flavor. You should try it later.”

“Kiwi....”

For some reason, the fruit made him think of Sun with his short hair, and a laugh slipped out.

Quick-witted Jun did not miss the moment.

“You just thought Sun looked like a kiwi, didn’t you?”

“No.”

Gyeol quickly composed his expression and shook his head, but despite his efforts, Sun’s face visibly darkened.

“...It’s all right. Everyone has already had their turn making fun of me.”

“But it looks exactly like him. Look at this.”

Gyujin, who seemed to have four ears, stopped bickering with Yo Han and immediately held out an empty kiwi-drink bottle.

Sure enough, the kiwi mascot printed on the bottle had thick eyebrows and a stern expression that made it look exactly like Sun.

Gyeol pressed a hand over his mouth before he could burst out laughing.

“...Just laugh.”

“It really is Sun! Sun! What are you doing in there?”

Tommy raised the bottle in both hands in a pose from The Lion King and shouted.

As everyone laughed, Sun muttered ominously.

“...You seem to have eaten and slept well. Let’s go do squats.”

“I’m sorry.”

Tommy promptly lowered the bottle.

Despite all his worry and awkwardness, Gyeol was able to laugh freely with the others. Perhaps he made an even greater effort than usual to laugh naturally. He could feel Sun and Jun being considerate of him, and he wanted to do his best not to make them uncomfortable in return.

His heart was still in turmoil, and now he had something that could never be discovered, yet he still had to endure several more days here....

But those were all problems he had to bear himself.

They were the price of his choice.

Yo Han sat at the end of the table with his chin propped on one hand, watching Gyeol.

***

The afternoon passed relatively uneventfully.

After filming their return to the lounge, they took a brief break. Then all the contestants gathered on the beach, paired off, and played dodgeball.

Of all people, Gyeol was paired with Gyujin.

“Why, out of everyone here...?”

“That’s what I should be saying.”

They openly exchanged dead-eyed stares before joining forces under the agreement that they should at least try to win the game. Fortunately, competitiveness was the one thing they had in common.

During the match, Gyujin struck Hanseul in the head with the ball.

“Oops. Sorry.”

It had only tapped him and bounced away, but Hanseul appeared deeply offended. He stopped dead, abandoned Tommy, who had been his partner, and walked straight off the court.

“Huh? Hey? Hanseul!”

Tommy called after him in confusion, but while everyone reacted as though they had expected as much, even Tommy did not follow him.

— Tommy and Hanseul Ga’s team has been eliminated.

The merciless narration played, and although Tommy scratched his head, he did not seem particularly bothered.

The match continued.

Gyujin did his best in his own way, but the two of them could hardly be said to have good teamwork, and they soon conceded a point.

In the end, Jun and Jaekyung won.

— Each member of the winning team may choose a partner for a snack date.

Jaekyung chose Gyujin, as expected.

And Jun’s choice was....

“I would like to have a snack date with Isu Yoon.”

***

“He said he was grateful that I always chose him, so he wanted to repay me at least once.”

It was the first thing Isu said as soon as he returned from his snack date with Jun.

“I can’t even quit being his fan. He’s too nice.”

There was a trace of lingering attachment in his words, but Isu said he actually felt relieved.

The boundary had been drawn clearly, and he had confirmed that Jun was still the same good person he had always been. It felt as though all those years he had spent as a fan had finally been rewarded.

“I heard you had pizza for the snack. That must’ve been good.”

“I don’t think someone who has been to Ivory Mansion three times gets to say that to me.”

Isu snickered at Gyeol’s comment.

Gyeol and Isu sat side by side in the living room, wearing sheet masks and chatting idly. Isu had taken them from the refrigerator, insisting that they could not simply leave their sun-darkened skin untreated.

“What exactly is in that refrigerator? Why do you keep pulling things out of it?”

“I’m Isuemon.”

Gyeol let out a derisive laugh at the nonsense. Isu accused him of mocking him and poked him in the side.

“Ah, that tickles. Stop.”

As Gyeol twisted away, the doorbell rang.

To their surprise, the visitor was Gyujin.

“Isu, could we talk for a moment?”

“Oh, yes. Of course. Just a second.”

Isu threw his sheet mask into the trash and left the lodging.

Left alone, Gyeol sat blankly on the sofa. The sheet mask on his face peeled off and flopped down.

They said you could not afford to leave your place unattended for even a single day on Pheromone Island.

He had no idea what had happened while he was gone.

***

After they cooked and ate a late dinner, the final course of the day was, as always, the attraction vote and interviews.

It had become a familiar routine by now. Without much hesitation, Gyeol slipped his card into an Alpha’s mailbox and went to his interview.

The interview was long and relentless. There were especially many loaded questions about Ivory Mansion.

He was beginning to wonder whether he was being interviewed for a dating show or subjected to a high-pressure interview at a major corporation.

Many of the questions were difficult, but the one that made him break out in the coldest sweat was undoubtedly this one.

— You went to the bathroom during the Time Booth and seemed to stay in there for quite a long time.

“Yes. I think I drank too much the night before, and my stomach was upset....”

He babbled whatever came to mind, thinking they could edit it however they pleased, but cold sweat ran down his spine.

Listen carefully. I’ll go out first and pretend to be asleep, so wake me up.

...Okay.

Think of it as acting. You can do that, right?

Yo Han’s voice remained vivid in his ears as he remembered Yo Han cupping both his cheeks and kissing him.

After somehow cleaning himself up, Gyeol had cracked open the bathroom door and found his clothes neatly arranged outside. Yo Han had undoubtedly brought them there.

And the man who had handled all of it so smoothly was curled up on the bed, looking exactly like someone lost in a deep sleep.

— How did you feel when you saw Yo Han asleep?

“Uh, is this the part where I’m supposed to say I felt hurt?”

— You saw straight through us.

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t hurt. Hmm....”

Gyeol paused between his words and recalled the moment he had looked at Yo Han’s face with his eyes closed.

After his emotions had boiled fiercely, overturned him like an explosion, and finally spilled out despite everything, the last traces of them had flowed toward....

“I felt tender toward him.”