There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 784: Side Story 4. Endless Journey - 65

"Oh, so you still remember that you have parents," Bassena narrowed his eyes as his oldest son sat on his knees, cold sweat pouring down his back.

"Of...of course, I do..."

Which was a lie. If it wasn’t for Han Joon’s warning, Kar would spend more days in that hotel room.

"I...I thought I should give Byul a tour since he was already there," Kar cleared his throat, averting his father’s eyes.

"Is that so?"

Byul, who had been sitting quietly in guilty conscience, could only smile wryly while hugging the cushion Lucy generously gave him. The youngest herself casually munching on a cookie and popcorn she prepared herself, enjoying watching her brother get a scolding.

A rare event she made sure to record for her other brother.

"You take him for a tour, huh?" Zein arched his brow. "Where did you go? Must have gone to a couple of places if it’s three days."

"Oh, umm..." Byul opened his mouth, trying to recall any tourist place he had read and seen on link, but...he couldn’t lie or act in front of those deep blue eyes, so he ended up pressing his lips and glancing regretfully at Kar. I’m sorry, Hyung...

"Maybe they toured the foyer, the living room, the bathroom..."

Kar groaned at his unhelpful sister. This girl just grew up to be more mischievous, as if her power manifested through naughtiness. "Lucy..."

"What? There’s this thing called room tour, you know!" Lucy grinned, before stuffing more popcorn into her mouth.

"Wow, look at this kid," Bassena shook his head in disappointment. "Now that you have a cute little boyfriend, you don’t care about us at all, huh? No wonder you never come home anymore."

Byul flinched, even though Bassena wasn’t saying it to him. But it was true that they rarely came home after living together, since they used their days off to go on a date or...well, just hang out at home. After all, they couldn’t exactly get any privacy in Lucre, at their own separate homes.

And so, Byul couldn’t help but feel guilty, because those words were also applied to him. "Oh, umm..."

Before he could say anything, however, Lucy already clasped his mouth with a caramel-scented hand, whispering sharply. "Shush."

"But it’s not like I had a long day off before," Kar argued. "It’s not like I can just go home on the weekend--what if there’s a dungeon break over there?"

"Don’t make excuses. There’s a portal and you have a flying license," Bassena clicked his tongue.

Kar gasped. "Wasting all of that fuel to only stay a day?"

"Since when are you an environmentalist?"

"Why are you grinding me?!" Kar pursed his lips, grumbling on the floor like a sulky child. "I know you’re the type to do the same."

"Whoa, this kid..."

"Well, he’s not wrong," Zein remarked in amusement.

Bassena looked at his traitorous husband in exasperation. "Honey..."

Zein chuckled and furthered his betrayal. "Your Dad just missed you."

"Oh, come on!"

Did Zein know how hard it was for Bassena to act like a scary, scolding father in front of his firstborn?

Byul blinked and asked Lucy in a whisper. "Really?"

The girl laughed before replying--also in a whisper. "Well, Daddy is not mad, but he really planned to go over if you didn’t return today."

"Oh..."

Bassena gave up on putting up a menacing front and just sighed in disappointment. "Do you think your parents don’t want to see you after three years of no communication?"

"It’s not three years yet..."

"Same thing!" he hissed.

"Alright, alright," Zein chuckled and clapped his hands, stopping the argument. "You’ll scare poor Byul this way. Let’s stop this and have lunch, okay?"

Kar got up before his father changed his mind, going over to his awkwardly smiling boyfriend. Perhaps he shouldn’t bring the poor guy to his house, but he couldn’t just send Byul back to Althrea. Sending him home to the lakehouse villa also seemed suspicious, so...

Oh, whatever. Kar held the actor’s hand and led him to the dining room.

Watching his firstborn, Bassena sighed as he glanced at his husband. "You’re turning soft, Zein."

Zein was usually the one in charge of scolding. If he was the one to do it, no one dared to talk back--not even Lucy. Not even Bassena, for that matter. But these days, Zein just let everything go.

"They’re adults already," Zein shrugged. Unless they were crossing lines or committing crimes, Zein didn’t feel like he needed to do any scolding. He had done his best to educate them when they were young anyway. "Besides, you know how it feels to be away from your lover for a long time. He’s your son, he got it for you," he smiled while patting his husband’s cheek, pausing for a second. "...well, from us."

Bassena laughed softly, leaning down to kiss his husband. That alone was enough to quell any annoyance he still had for the fact that his children no longer considered him as their priority.

"But now I understand why Lucy told us to stay put," Bassena narrowed his eyes at his youngest. "You’re in cahoots, huh?"

"It’s fun!" Lucy threw her arms in the air and laughed, taunting her father to flick her forehead in exasperation.

Zein just watched his husband and daughter running around the dining room while shaking his head, before shifting his gaze toward his oldest. "Anyway, I’m just glad you’re alright."

Kar felt his heart sting and went over to hug his father. "I’m sorry, Father."

Zein patted his oldest’s back, and the guilty-looking Byul. Well, he already knew his children would have their own lives one day, and he had to let them go to face the world with their own legs. Still, sometimes he regretted how fast time seemed to pass.

"I’ll let you off because you’ll still need to face Shin," he patted their cheeks and laughed as Kar and Byul immediately froze. He tilted his head and smirked. "Now that you’re back, you can’t just keep it a secret forever."

Lucy jumped and clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh, that’ll be fun!"

* * *

Scratching her forehead, which was still stinging from her father’s merciless flick, Lucy laid on her large reading nook while talking to her commlink. "How is it? Are they getting scolded?"

[You bad girl] Nari’s reply came in a whisper, but there was a giggle behind it. [Appa is interrogating them]

Giving no chance for Kar and Byul to run away, Zein and Bassena had sent them to the lakehouse villa after lunch--even having Cohen accompanying, or rather ’watching’ them so they wouldn’t get away.

[I think they’ll be fine since Byul told him they slept in different rooms] Nari said.

"Pfft--"

Like that had any meaning. Lucy was sure they never slept separately once the line had been broken.

[Wait--Appa said at least it’s the one with Zein’s personality]

The girls couldn’t help but laugh at that; Nari had to hold herself so no one heard her downstairs, but Lucy could laugh as much as she wanted. Oh, poor Asa getting slandered without even being there.

[Ah, damn it] Nari took a shaky breath from holding back her laughter. [I need to get out of here]

"Why?"

[I felt like they’re going to scold me for keeping it a secret] she whispered. [But I want to eavesdrop]

"Hang in there, Nari!" Lucy clenched her fist. Who would tell her the juicy story if no one was there?! "Just a bit more--use stealth!"

[Appa is probably relieved it’s not you either]

Lucy laughed again. "Humans are kind of boring, Nari," she sighed. "I wonder if aliens are real..."

[It should be] Nari replied nonchalantly. [Uncle Zein said Setnath came from another world]

"Oh...maybe that’s why," Lucy chuckled, twirling her wavy hair.

[Why what?]

"Nothing," she shook her head. The dreams never stopped appearing even until now, and Lucy had several journals detailing those dreams saved in her drawers. The more she grew up, the more she was sure her childhood assumption wasn’t wrong.

It was her past life.

The more she watched her dreams, the more she got a better grasp of her power. She started to visit the Guardian Tree once her parents allowed her to go out without supervision, and found out that she was the only one her parents brought inside. The Guardians didn’t tell her anything about the reason, nor did they react much to her story about her dreams, but there were too many points to support her belief.

Oh, whatever. Lucy felt she would be happy either way, since her family promised her she would still be their cute youngest no matter what. But she also developed a curiosity about the vast universe outside her small bubble; the world of the Celestial Being.

It made this world she lived in seem boring.

Oh--but that wasn’t something she should be thinking about at that moment. Lucy returned to the commlink and shifted the topic back. "Is the interrogation still going?"

[They are spinning a tale about why they keep it a secret] Nari updated in a gasp. [Frick--I need to get out!]

"Take care~"

[Bye!]

The call ended with a harsh beeping sound--seemed like Nari was truly running away, probably jumping out of her window. Lucy rolled to her back and giggled, wishing she could see what was happening over there instead of hearing it from someone else.

"Hehe...it’ll be nice if we really became a big family."

Of course, they already were in a way; spending vacations and big days together and such. Still...there was nothing wrong with tightening the bond even more, right? There was no way Kar and Byul would break up anyway, so Nari would become her real sister. Oh, how fun!

She compiled the scolding video and typed the report from Nari, sending it to her other brother. But even after waiting until dinner, she didn’t receive any reply.

How weird...Asa usually sulked if he wasn’t being involved or informed about stuff.

"Hmm...what’s Asa doing right now, I wonder?"